It’s crunch time for the men’s soccer team.
UCLA (8-6-2, 4-2-1 Pac-10) heads to the Bay Area for a Friday night match at Stanford (4-4-5, 1-2-2 Pac-10), and a Sunday game at No. 24 Cal (8-4-1, 3-2 Pac-10), clinging to a fragile one-point lead in the conference.
The Bruins have 13 points, followed by San Diego State in second with 12, and Cal in third with nine. San Diego State and Cal, however, have one more game than UCLA remaining.
With only these two road games and one home game against the Aztecs remaining for the Bruins, there is not much room for error.
In order to bring home the Pac-10 title and give themselves a shot at a favorable tournament seeding, the Bruins need positive results from their trip north.
“This is probably the biggest weekend in UCLA soccer in awhile,” junior midfielder Jason Leopoldo said. “This year we’ve been struggling a little bit; with our wins, getting results. We just need two wins. Period. If we go up there and don’t get six points, it could be pretty bad for us in the tournament.”
The Bruins have been on a hot streak, amassing a four-game winning streak that catapulted them into first place in the conference. Then, despite dictating almost every aspect of play in their home game against Washington last weekend, UCLA suffered a 1-0 loss.
“Sunday we blew an opportunity to give ourselves a nice cushion in the Pac-10,” coach Jorge Salcedo said. “So we’re going to have to find a way to go up there this weekend and win one if not two games.”
After the disappointing loss, the Bruins showed up for the week’s practices with renewed concentration. Up and down the lineup, the team is focused on finishing the season strong.
“(After a game like that) you come back with a certain kind of focus,” midfielder Tony Beltran said. “You say, “˜O.K. we lost. It was a tough game. Unfortunate. Now we’ve got to work even harder.’ We want to redeem ourselves this weekend.”
The first shot at redemption comes against the Cardinal, a team the Bruins tied 0-0 earlier in the season at Drake Stadium.
While Salcedo’s players were able to create opportunities, they were held back by the same problem that has plagued them off and on throughout the season ““ turning opportunities into goals.
“Our defense has kept teams to low amounts of goals,” Leopoldo said. “We just need to get our chances, and once we get our chances we need to put them away.”
Against Cal at home, the Bruins were able to do that.
Forward Maxwell Griffin found the back of the net to seal a close 1-0 victory, which sparked their four-game winning streak.
This weekend the men’s soccer team heads north for the rematches while battling a few bumps and bruises.
Leopoldo, who has had to overcome injuries all season, has been bothered by his hamstring, while teammate Greg Folk has a staph infection after getting kicked in the leg last week. Both are expected to play.
As far as strategy, the Bruins have been focusing on moving the ball quickly around the field, and getting everyone involved.
“We’re best when we play one and two touch and move the ball side to side,” Beltran said. “Because we’ve got such great individual players, when we play as a team and use everyone, we’re really dangerous.”
If the Bruins can do that, then they could return to Westwood for their final game with both a Pac-10 title and a tournament berth well within their grasp.