The 2-2 tie against UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday night marked the end of a long and tough preseason schedule for the men’s soccer team. Out of its nine nonconference contests, UCLA (2-3-4) was only able to win two of them. In a way, Wednesday night’s game symbolized their entire preseason: The Bruins fell behind in the first half before settling into a groove and battling to a draw.
Now the Bruins turn their attention to the Pac-10 portion of their schedule, hoping their recent four-game unbeaten streak is able to pave the way to more favorable results. The first test comes against San Diego State (2-5-0) at Drake Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
“We have played well enough to win our last few games, but it hasn’t turned out for us,” coach Jorge Salcedo said. “I keep telling the guys that we need to continue to believe. We genuinely have made progress, now we just need to take that into conference play.”
Though the team has only been able to pull out a pair of victories thus far this season, senior forward Maxwell Griffin thinks that having played against tough competition benefits the team in the long run.
“It’s been good playing the tough teams in the nation,” Griffin said. “It has gotten us ready and prepared for the Pac-10. We just have to learn off these losses and ties, keep battling, and we’ll eventually get the wins.”
UCLA hopes one of those wins comes this Sunday. San Diego State, which finished in a second-place tie in the conference standings last season, has dropped its last three contests.
In the last matchup between these two teams, the Bruins and Aztecs played to a 1-1 tie in the 2007 regular season finale at Drake Stadium. Junior midfielder Kyle Nakazawa scored the lone Bruin goal that day.
Nakazawa, who has missed the last four games due to injury, will remain sidelined for another two to four weeks.
As a result, junior midfielder Michael Stephens, who was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week for Sept. 23-29, has had the responsibility of controlling the ball more. While Stephens has stepped up in Nakazawa’s absence, junior forward David Estrada thinks there is something that cannot be replaced.
“It’s creativity. I haven’t seen another player at the college level that can come up with things on the field,” Estrada said. “It’s a lot to bear when we don’t have him on the field. But hopefully when he comes back, he’ll get back in shape real fast so we can plug him in real quick. We do miss him out there.”
Even without Nakazawa, Griffin has seen a steady progression on the offensive end as of late.
“We’ve definitely gotten much more chances on goal,” Griffin said. “And when we get more chances, we have a better chance of putting them away.”
Thanks to an increase in scoring opportunities, UCLA has not lost any of its four games since Sept. 12, when it dropped a 3-0 decision to Indiana. The Bruins couldn’t have picked a better time to improve their offensive production.
“Getting this offensive rhythm, which we didn’t have in the beginning of the season, is a big step for Pac-10 play,” Estrada said. “We’re just ready to get things done.”
But the San Diego State defense may pose a few problems for the suddenly upstart UCLA offense.
“Defensively, they’re a very good team,” Estrada said. “I’ve been going up against (Aztec defender) Nick Cardenas since my freshman year. He’s someone we need to worry about.
“They also have their troubles. They’re going to come to our place, and we just have to take care of business.”