With its third consecutive Pac-10 title in hand, the UCLA
men’s soccer team has quickly begun to zero in on its next
task, securing a high ranking in the upcoming NCAA tournament.
“That is our main goal,” freshman defender Marvell
Wynne said. “We had a couple of goals throughout the year,
the Pac-10 being one of them and getting a high seed for the
tournament being another.” “If we can get a top-four
seed, we will be very happy. That was our main goal, and hopefully
we’ll get it.” UCLA can help its cause when they face
off at home against San Diego (7-8-3) on Thursday and UC Davis
(5-9-2) on Saturday. San Diego’s win over then-No. 19 San
Francisco is the only win over a ranked team by either of the
Bruins’ opponents this week. With the final rankings
announced on Nov. 15, the fourth-ranked Bruins (11-3-2, 6-2-0) are
fully aware of the implications of these seemingly mundane games.
“These two games cannot be taken lightly at all because
it’s going to be huge for our rankings,” sophomore
midfielder Benny Feilhaber said. “Since we want that
homefield advantage during the playoffs, we got to win these next
two games.” After the Bruins’ roller-coaster last
weekend, which included avenging a loss to Washington but then
losing to lowly Oregon State, the Bruins hope to regain the
stability that has, for the most part, characterized their season.
Riding a five-game winning streak into the Oregon State game, the
Beavers surprised a Bruin squad still reveling in clinching the
Pac-10 two days earlier. “(The loss to Oregon state) is going
to be huge because we saw that we can’t take any team for
granted,” Feilhaber said. “We’ll make sure to
remember that game in the playoffs so we won’t lose another
game.”
MORE RECOGNITION: Benny Feilhaber was named
Pac-10 Player of the Week on Monday. He scored the game-winning
goal against Washington to secure the Pac-10 title for the
Bruins.