The seniors on the UCLA men’s soccer team know for sure
that Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinal match against Penn State
will be their last game in front of the home crowd at Drake
Stadium.
“It’s really sad that this will be my last game
here,” midfielder Jimmy Frazelle said. “I wish I could
start it all over again.”
If the Bruins lose on Saturday, their season ends at home; if
they beat the Nittany Lions (16-7), UCLA will be one of four teams
at the NCAA College Cup in Dallas trying to win a national
championship.
They’ve got a chance. The No. 3 Bruins are coming off a
week in which their offense was on fire, recording seven goals in
two playoff games last week against Loyola Marymount and Cal.
“I’d love to be able to score three or four goals a
game,” UCLA head coach Tom Fitzgerald said. “With the
good players on this team, I expect it, though it is difficult to
score goals against good teams like Penn State.”
In their second-round game against LMU, junior midfielder Adolfo
Gregorio scored three goals, leading the Bruins to a 4-2
victory.
“I have high expectations for myself,” Gregorio
said. “I like putting the ball into the goal.”
Penn State has reached the quarterfinals with 1-0 overtime wins
against William & Mary, and defending champions North Carolina.
The Nittany Lions do have more losses than any other team in the
quarterfinals, but six of their losses ““ and seven of their
wins ““ came against tournament teams.
“Penn State has played an excellent schedule,”
Fitzgerald said. “I expect it to be a very good
game.”
In comparison, UCLA went 9-2-1 against tournament teams. The
Bruins have the No. 3 seed, Penn State No. 15. UCLA has outscored
Penn State, 43-36, and has allowed fewer goals, 17-24.
Not to mention the Bruins are at home, where they are 10-1-1
this season. The Nittany Lions went 5-3 on the road.
The winner of Saturday’s game plays the winner of No. 2
Maryland (19-4) and No. 7 Connecticut (17-5) in the national
semifinals. The other two quarterfinal matches include No. 5 Boston
College (18-4) against No. 11 Creighton (17-3-2) and No. 9 Stanford
(16-4-2) against No. 13 Clemson (14-4-3).
UCLA’s season is nearly over. Frazelle hopes it lasts as
long as possible.
“The dream is to end your career with the
championship,” he said.
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The Daily Bruin will cover all remaining soccer matches online,
at dailybruin.ucla.edu
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One of the semifinal matches will be shown live on ESPN2 at 2
p.m. on Dec. 13. The other will be played at 5 p.m. and will be
tape-delayed on ESPN2, showing the following day at 9 a.m. The
final will be shown live on ESPN, on Dec. 15 at 1:30 p.m.
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Five Bruins were honored by the National Soccer Coaches
Association of America (NSCAA) on Tuesday. Senior forward Tim
Pierce was named first-team All-West Region. Both junior goalkeeper
Zach Wells and senior defender Scot Thompson were given second team
honors, and senior midfielder Ryan Futagaki and Gregorio were given
third-team honors.