The UCLA men’s soccer team went into last Saturday’s home game against Santa Clara desperately looking for a victory.
After being ranked No. 14 to open the season, UCLA (2-3-1) lost three of its first five games and disappeared from the polls.
UCLA faced the possibility of dropping another game to a familiar opponent on Saturday. Santa Clara beat UCLA twice a season ago, the latter match coming in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. A season later, the Bruins looked to get past the team that sent them packing. According to senior forward Maxwell Griffin, the Bruins were also seeking more mental consistency.
“It was such a good feeling to get the weight off our shoulders,” Griffin said. “Hopefully this win will get things on a roll.”
Aside from helping the team build momentum for upcoming games, the 2-0 win against Santa Clara was a chance at redemption.
“It was a huge win for us,” Griffin said. “Knowing that (Santa Clara) beat us to knock us out of the playoffs last year gave us an extra spark to come out and show them that we were there to compete.”
The Bruins came out firing from the outset. Following an array of scoring opportunities, Griffin’s third goal of the season finally broke the scoreless tie in the 14th minute. The quick pace of the game seemed to be of benefit to the home team. The Bruins used the first goal to build momentum for the rest of the match and were able to add another score on an own-goal to seal the win.
“We came out and everyone had the same mentality to work hard and work together,” Griffin said. “That’s all we need from the start for us to be successful. We still have some improving to do and hopefully this is the start for us.”
Coach Jorge Salcedo also welcomed the quick pace of the game.
“Sometimes when you play in a game like we did against Santa Clara, the game is moving really fast,” he said. “Your transition is really quick from defending to attacking and attacking to defending ““ you need to have a little bit more composure when you have the ball.”
FRESHMEN MAKING AN IMPACT: The Bruin defense has struggled at times against superior competition early in the season, allowing three goals each to powerhouses Wake Forest and Indiana. This trend could be due to an inexperienced backfield that touts only one returning starter, senior Brad Rusin.
But against Santa Clara, a pair of freshmen did their part in securing UCLA’s second shutout of the season.
“All of the (freshman) players that have been on the field this year have made a good impact,” Griffin said. “But Zack Zerrenner and Chris Cummings did real well in the back for us as freshmen, especially in a big game like that.”
Zerrenner and Cummings, along with fellow freshman defender Andy Rose, played the entire 90 minutes of the game. Despite Santa Clara’s variety of attacks, Salcedo thought his young defense capitalized on opportunities.
“We take a lot of positives from that game,” Salcedo said. “Santa Clara is a team that tests you in a variety of ways … they give us a lot to look at defensively and I thought we handled it really well.”