Two weeks ago, it appeared as though the UCLA men’s soccer team would cruise through the regular season and charge full steam ahead into the NCAA Tournament.
But now, fresh off two straight road losses to No. 19 Stanford and unranked Creighton, the No. 10 Bruins face a tougher path to a championship but still have the inside track to the Pac-10 title.
“The two games we lost don’t ruin the whole season,” UCLA coach Jorge Salcedo said. “We played almost 11 games without losing. We’ll make a couple minor adjustments, and I feel that we can put a team out there that can get the job done.”
Tonight, the Bruins (9-3-2, 4-1-2 Pac-10) begin a three-game homestand to finish off the regular season, first hosting Oregon State. UCLA is 5-0-0 at Drake Stadium in all play this season, and 2-0-0 against Pac-10 opposition.
In the two sides’ meeting in Corvallis earlier this season, the Beavers (7-6-2, 3-4-0) held the Bruins to a 1-1 score heading into halftime, but UCLA senior midfielder Kyle Nakazawa notched a goal and an assist in the second half to secure the win for the Bruins.
Despite the relative ease with which UCLA handled Oregon State back in early October, senior goalkeeper Brian Perk is wary of tonight’s opponents.
“We realize that every game is a difficult game,” Perk said. “I can speak for everyone that we’re ready to go and we’re certainly not taking it lightly.”
Salcedo said after Saturday’s loss to Creighton that his Bruin squad lacked effort for the first time all season.
“Who knows what the exact reason was,” Salcedo said. “It was a poor effort, but we’ve moved on from that. I feel like these three days of training have prepared us to have a good weekend.”
UCLA is currently tied for the Pac-10 lead with Stanford, but the Bruins have three games remaining to the Cardinal’s one.
With either two wins or a win and a draw this weekend against Oregon State and Washington (4-5-6, 1-1-5), they can put themselves permanently out of the Cardinal’s reach and all but clinch the Pac-10 title.
San Diego State, the Bruins’ last regular-season opponent, is still in contention for the title but would need to win for a chance to share the conference title with the Bruins.