The unranked Portland men’s soccer team came into Drake
Stadium on Sunday knowing that a win against the No. 2 Bruins would
be a miracle.
So the Pilots played for the 0-0 tie, putting everyone on
defense and hoping that the vaunted Bruin offense, averaging three
goals a game, would be denied from scoring.
The strategy worked in the first half, as the Bruin offense
appeared baffled and frustrated. However, the offense broke through
in the second half, scoring two goals in a three-minute span to
defeat the Pilots 2-0.
In the first half, UCLA (6-1) had trouble getting the ball to
forwards in the middle of the field due to a 3-5-2 formation
employed by Portland (3-5). The formation was meant to clog the
middle of the field with defenders and midfielders.
The Bruins couldn’t get many passes in the middle of the
field, so their main strategy was to send the outside midfielders
to the corners and try to send crosses into the penalty box.
“It was a very lackadaisical first half, but those kind of
games are very difficult to play in, because Portland was more
interested in keeping us from scoring than playing soccer,”
UCLA coach Tom Fitzgerald said. “We didn’t really
figure them out until the second half.”
The Bruins came alive in the second half when midfielder Benny
Feilhaber entered the game. In the 57th minute, Feilhaber dribbled
the ball to the left of the goal and curled a shot from 10 yards
out, sending the ball to the far post and into the side
netting.
This gave the Bruins the first goal of the day, as well as the
first of Feilhaber’s UCLA career.
“I looked up and saw if I could get a pass across the
middle of the goal, and I saw that the keeper was really close to
the near post, so I shot it far post and it went in,”
Feilhaber said. “Coming in in the second half when it was
still 0-0 and getting the goal was such a great
experience.”
“The man of the match was Benny Feilhaber,”
Fitzgerald said. He scored a great goal and played well in the
midfield. That’s what we are looking for: guys to give us a
spark in games like this.”
The Bruins quickly realized the Pilots were on their heels and
attacked again, scoring just three minutes later on a Matt Taylor
goal, set up by an excellent pass from midfielder Adolfo
Gregorio.
That goal effectively ended the game, as the Bruins had a
two-goal cushion and were content to pass the ball around the
midfield for the game’s final 30 minutes.