It was a moment of validation shortly followed by three more.
After going down early in Pac-10 play last year with an ACL injury, forward Maxwell Griffin was eager to make an early impact this season.
Not a small task when your team starts out playing top-10 teams on the road. UCLA opened the year with a 2-1 overtime loss against Notre Dame, and followed it up with a 1-0 loss to Indiana and a scoreless tie against Creighton.
“It was frustrating,” Griffin said. “But then again, it was kind of similar to last season. I think we’re off to a better start than last season, (and we’re) slowly beginning to work together.”
In the home opener against Ohio State on Sept. 14, Griffin opened the scoring and kick-started a solid 3-1 victory.
“Great way to start off the season at home ““ night game, perfect,” Griffin said after the Ohio State game. “It was good to finally get a goal, took a lot off of my shoulders. I just hope they keep coming after this.”
They did.
The next game, Sept. 16, at home against Penn State, Griffin netted a hat trick to lead the Bruins to a 4-1 victory. The junior was named National Soccer Coaches Association of America player of the week and Pac-10 player of the week.
The early road troubles were not unusual for coach Jorge Salcedo’s team. Year in and year out, Salcedo has his players begin their campaign with road games against a caliber of teams that most coaches don’t want to see until the postseason.
“We play a couple of the best teams in the country the first three games of the year,” Salcedo said. “Our schedule next year will be the same thing our first four games. I think what it does is it tests you, it shows you obviously have a lot of work to do. … It creates a good kind of fighting mentality because, if we’re playing against those teams, nothing is given to us.”
The early losses squandered the preseason No. 1 ranking, but the Bruins have rebounded to show that the respect was warranted.
The notion of falling off is a foreign concept to the men’s soccer team.
After an appearance in the NCAA championship game last season, the Bruins graduated two key players in star goalkeeper Eric Reed and standout defender Kiel McClung.
And arguably the biggest loss came during the offseason when midfielder Sal Zizzo signed a professional contract to play with Hanover 96 of Germany’s Bundesliga.
But the core of the team remains intact.
Counteracting the Bruins’ departures is the return of Griffin and defender Brandon Owens, who offers another option in the back.
Salcedo also returns the majority of his solid defense. Seniors Mike Zaher and Greg Folk take the sides, with the 6-foot-4-inch junior Brad Rusin representing a sizable force in the center of the back line.
The veteran defense stands in front of the young Brian Perk, the heir at the starting goalie position that Reed left behind. Perk, who is considered to have a great deal of potential, has experience and some room to grow in the eyes of his coach.
“Everyone says that he has experience,” Salcedo said. “He played with the under-17 national team, but he was the backup, and then he played with the under-20 team, but he was a backup as well. … He hasn’t been an out-and-out starter and player, so it’s going to take him some time. … But Brian is someone that we have a lot of confidence in, and over time, I think he’s going to be a very good goalkeeper.”
A lot of the team’s success this season could hinge on the ability of sophomores Chance Myers and Michael Stephens to create chances up top to spread defenses and represent multiple scoring threats.
Adding to the Bruins’ scoring options are Jason Leopoldo in the midfield, who spent a lot of time up front last season, and the expected return of the injured David Estrada.
After having surgery on a metatarsal injury on his left foot, Estrada was expected to be back for conference play but now could be back as early as Sept. 29 for the game at Cal State Northridge. Estrada was the Bruins’ leading scorer in 2006, and winner of Soccer America’s national freshman of the year award.
All in all, the pieces are in place for the Bruins to end their season with another tough road trip ““ this time to the College Cup in Frisco, Texas.