Senior midfielder/forward Ryan Hollingshead clutched his head in exasperation as his shot sailed safely into the arms of Oregon State’s goalkeeper.
Exasperation was a common emotion throughout the UCLA men’s soccer team’s last match against Oregon State three weeks ago, a game marked by UCLA’s frustration with its first-half struggles and missed opportunities.
The Bruins narrowly escaped that game with a win, but in their rematch on Friday, they looked like a completely different team, dominating the first half during a 2-1 victory over the Beavers in Corvallis, Ore.
After being held scoreless in the first half of its last match against OSU, No. 7 UCLA jumped out to an early lead this time around, when junior forward Victor Chavez scored the first goal in the 17th minute.
“We always want to score every minute that we’re out on the field. We previously have been scoring more goals in the second half, but I feel like if we’re the team that scores the first goal, it makes it really difficult for our opponent,” said coach Jorge Salcedo.
The Bruins (10-2-2, 5-1-0 Pac-12) followed that goal with a second one just before halftime as Hollingshead sneaked a ball past the opposing keeper after receiving a pass off the back of the heel of junior forward Reed Williams.
“It’s always good going into halftime up ““ the more goals the better. But 2-0 is kind of a tough thing to have. If they score one, the momentum changes, but it was comforting because I thought we definitely had the better play in the first 45 minutes,” said senior defender Matt Wiet.
The second 45 minutes weren’t quite as easy for the team. As some fatigue set in for UCLA, Oregon State (6-8-2, 1-6-1) was able to break down the defense and score in the 67th minute.
“We were frustrated for sure. We wanted to get the shutout and they had basically no chances the entire game, so their one chance they had they scored on,” Hollingshead said. “I was just bummed, because it wasn’t like they were after us or had a lot of opportunities. They hardly got the ball the entire game and they still snuck that goal in, and it just made the last 20 minutes a lot harder.”
While the Beavers turned up the intensity in those final 20 minutes, the Bruins held them off with relative ease, showing the same poise and concentration they had the whole game to secure the win.
With a rematch against No. 24 Washington, who handed UCLA its only Pac-12 loss of the year, looming today, the team’s focus throughout Friday’s win was impressive.
“It’s one of those things that’s always very difficult in sports, that you know what’s on the horizon and it’s hard not to think about it or emotionally back it up,” Salcedo said. “From the moment we started preparing for Oregon State two weeks ago that’s all we talked about as a group: making sure that this game was the most important game of the year.”
With Oregon State now behind them, UCLA’s match against Washington tonight now becomes the most important of the year. And with the Bruins hungry for revenge after a loss earlier this month, they shouldn’t need much reminding of its significance.