The men’s soccer team has its fingers crossed now.
UCLA and San Diego State played to a double overtime 1-1 tie Wednesday night that left the Bruins just barely eligible for the NCAA tournament with .500 record. Coach Jorge Salcedo and his players now have to wait for the selection announcements at 2:30 p.m. Monday on ESPNews to find out if their season will continue.
While the Bruins’ chances are not guaranteed as they have been in years past, in their favor is their strength of schedule, as well as a precedent of .500 teams making it into the tournament.
“The fact that we tied the game obviously lessens our chances,” Salcedo said.
“It puts us in a situation where we’re at the hands of the committee … (but) you look in the past and there’s been a handful of teams. I think Cal got into the tournament at 8-8. Villanova one year got in with five wins, five losses and eight ties,” he said.
UCLA (8-8-3, 4-4-2 Pac-10) came into the game knowing that a win would most likely guarantee them a spot in the tournament. Like most of its season, the chances came, but the bounces simply didn’t go UCLA’s way.
The Bruins jumped out to an early lead, scoring a goal in the first half for the first time since Oct. 26 against Oregon State. In the 34th minute, sophomore Kyle Nakazawa found the ball coming out of the air right to his feet in front of the box, and without hesitation, drilled a low shot into the bottom left corner of the net to put the Bruins up 1-0.
“It was no hesitation; I think that was why I scored,” he said. “I didn’t hesitate. I ran onto the ball, had a good approach, striked it, and it went into the back of the net.”
UCLA held the lead for the rest of the first half, but would not be so lucky in the second half.
On San Diego State’s Kraig Chiles penalty kick, goalkeeper Brian Perk made the initial save, diving to his left and punching the ball out. While it is common for the penalty taker to get a rebound shot, it was San Diego State’s Matt McManus that jumped on the deflection and was able to put it in the back of the net to tie the game in the 54th minute.
The crucial goal was not without controversy.
“That (play) is tough (for a referee) to call, but there’s no way a guy gets on you that quick without anyone else being there,” Perk said.
“Even if he gets a perfect jump … he was there within a second. I’ll look at it on tape, and maybe I was wrong, but I don’t think so,” he said.
The two teams would trade chances for the rest of regulation, with both teams getting a lot of opportunities. The Aztecs would have 20 shots to the Bruins’ 12, while both would total seven shots on goal.
San Diego State (8-7-3, 4-4-1 Pac-10) had its best chance in the closing minutes, hitting a free kick from just outside the box off the crossbar.
Neither team would give an inch from the opening with a full booking sheet to prove it. There were a total of nine yellow cards issued in the match, five to San Diego State and four to UCLA.
Now, with the Bruins’ regular season complete, here comes the tough waiting game. While most seasons the team waits to see what seed it will receive, or who it will play, this selection becomes all the more crucial, with the team hoping to make the tournament at all.
“I think that the committee knows what kind of team we are,” Nakazawa said. “We haven’t really done much to help our chances. All we can do is sit and wait.”