The UCLA men’s soccer team wrapped up the second of its two preseason contests with a 1-1 draw against UC Irvine at UCLA’s North Athletic Field on Saturday.
Anteater sophomore right midfielder Brett Berman scored the game’s first goal in the 48th minute, but Bruin freshman forward Evan Raynr pulled UCLA even in the 84th minute with a scorching shot from the right side of the box off a pass from sophomore forward Prince Lapnet.
Early in both halves, the Bruins looked stagnant and tired in midfield, failing to supply their strikers with any quality balls forward.
“I think that knowing that it was a preseason game today, we trained hard all the way through the week,” coach Jorge Salcedo said. “Generally the day before (a match), the training session is pretty light, but we got after it pretty hard (Friday). The guys put in a good hour and 45 minutes of training, so we knew they would be a little bit lethargic.”
UCLA’s central midfielders, freshman Amobi Okugo and sophomore Andy Rose, were solid on defense but were somewhat predictable with their passes. Irvine took advantage of possession and dominated the early chances.
“Sometimes when we’re fatigued, guys try and do too much with the ball, so too many guys were forcing the play, too many guys were giving the ball away when really, an easy option was the better choice,” Salcedo said.
UCLA’s only real chance in the early goings of the first half was a 30-yard missile from senior forward David Estrada in the 18th minute that sailed a foot over the crossbar.
However, the Bruins’ fortune changed for the better once Salcedo decided to convert from a 4-4-2 offensive formation into a 4-3-3 formation. Freshman striker Dakota Collins and senior Kyle Nakazawa, along with Lapnet, spearheaded the new offensive scheme, which allowed the Bruins to take control of the game.
“Prince (and) Dakota came in and did well,” Salcedo said. “They brought good energy.”
The game remained goalless at halftime, but it looked as if the Bruins had finally found their stride.
But just three minutes into the second half, after UCLA’s defense botched the clearance of an Irvine corner kick, Berman fired a long shot into the top corner past senior goalkeeper Brian Perk.
In the half hour after Berman’s goal, the Bruins had three solid chances to draw even but failed to capitalize on any of them.
It wasn’t until the 79th minute that Salcedo put Lapnet back into the game and returned to the 4-3-3 formation that had been so effective in the first half.
Five minutes later, Lapnet dribbled down the left side and into the penalty box. He eventually found Raynr unmarked on the right side, and the freshman was able to convert the game-tying goal.
“I had a plan,” Lapnet said. “I was going to go down the line, force my way through and pass it back. That’s what I did, but the ball came back to me, and I saw Evan come across and I just played it in.”
Sophomore left back Chris Cummings almost won the game for the Bruins with a shot from the left wing in the last seconds of regulation, but anteater goalkeeper Andrew Fontein was there. The game went to a 10-minute extra time period.
Each team had its chance to put the other away in the extra session, but like the rest of the game, neither team was able to finish in front of goal.
Senior Michael Stephens miffed an easy chance set up by Lapnet in the box in the 93rd minute for UCLA, and sophomore Irvine defender Stephen Carveth almost got lucky when his deep cross from the right side hit the crossbar in the 100th minute.