M. soccer: Defense shaken but remains unbroken

After last weekend’s wild games, the Bruin defense is
eager to get back to the consistency that it has shown throughout
the season. The Bruins allowed three goals in the second half alone
of the Cal game on Sunday, matching the total number of goals
scored against them in the entire conference season. “We were
extremely shocked,” redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Eric Reed
said. “After the first goal I was shocked, so you can only
imagine after the second and third goals. It just didn’t look
like we were out there to play at the time.” “Sometimes
games like that happen, and unfortunately it happened this
weekend,” coach Jorge Salcedo added. “I just think it
happened to be a few mental mistakes.” Miscommunication
between Reed and his defense put UCLA in a hole against both
Stanford and Cal. Lining up defensively for what they believed to
be a routine indirect kick against the Cardinal on Friday night,
the Bruins allowed an easy goal on what turned out to be a direct
kick, leaving Reed with his hands in the air in confusion. Two
nights later, all three of Cal’s goals were also the result
of miscommunication and poor decision-making. “We need to
work on what decisions need to be made in certain parts of the
field,” Salcedo said. “You have to get yourself in a
good position. You have to mentally think, if my teammate
doesn’t win the ball, what do I do?” Despite these
lapses, the defense is not concerned that last weekend could be a
foreshadowing of more difficulties to come. Each member of the team
points to the solid record it has amassed up until this point, a
record including five shutouts, two of which were against Cal and
Stanford earlier this month. “It was a funny game (against
Cal) because that was probably the first time that the defense has
had a lapse,” senior defender Aaron Lopez said. “We
just got cocky from the first half. We had a lot of chances to
score in the first half and we just thought we were going to go out
there and walk all over them.” On the agenda for the
men’s soccer team this weekend will be trying to put two
complete halves of soccer together. “It was a lapse of focus
for a split second, and it cost us a few times,” said Reed of
last weekend’s games. “We need to stay focused into the
game for a whole 90 minutes instead of taking breaks and losing the
consistency that we’ve had up until now.”

FRESHMAN STANDOUT: Freshman defender Marvell
Wynne continued his impressive play for the Bruins, recording his
first assist as a Bruin in the Cal game. He has been earning a
significant amount of playing time, starting in each of the last
seven games. “I thought it would have taken more time for him
to incorporate himself into the team and have an understanding of
what needed to be done,” Salcedo said. “But he’s
proven that he is one of our best defenders on our team, even
though he is a freshman.”

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