Monday, November 10, 1997
UCLA overwhelms Gauchos, 6-1
SOCCER: After lackluster start, Bruins rally during second
half
By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Staff
Sigi Schmid held nothing back on Sunday.
The No. 2 UCLA men’s soccer team needed only a tie against UC
Santa Barbara in order to clinch the Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation (MPSF) Pacific title, but after 45 minutes of play the
score was 1-1. Schmid, UCLA’s head coach, lashed at his team during
halftime for their lackadaisical performance and expected a better
effort from the team in the second half.
He got it.
The Bruins (16-2 overall, 4-1 in MPSF) came out of the locker
room with a ferocious effort.
Thanks to sophomore forward Martin Bruno’s four second-half
goals and junior forward Seth George’s three second-half assists
and first-half goal, the Bruins trampled on UCSB (4-14, 1-4) en
route to a comfortable 6-1 victory.
Ironically, both George and Bruno are roommates and therefore it
was rather fitting that Bruno was the one to tie George’s school
record of four goals in a game.
Asked what he told his team at halftime, Schmid decided not to
repeat the speech.
"It probably couldn’t be printed, what I told them at
half-time," Schmid said. "I thought we were very flat in the first
half and I didn’t think we played well at all … We came out and
got two goals in the first five minutes of the second half and that
basically turned the game. It was just a matter of raising our
level of play."
A 3-2 loss on Saturday by Cal State Fullerton at Cal Poly San
Luis Obispo allowed the Bruins the chance to clinch their
sixth-straight MPSF Pacific crown and force an MPSF title game at
Spaulding field next Sunday against Stanford (MPSF Mountain
champions).
Bruno’s heroics, which included three goals in the first eight
minutes of the first half, have only been accomplished twice by a
Bruin — in last year’s season finale, George scored four goals
against Cal State Sacramento and in 1990 Billy Thompson scored the
first four goals against Southern California College.
"What woke us up was at halftime when Sigi gave us a little
speech in the locker room," Bruno said. "And it kind of pumped us
up for the second half."
George, who has struggled to find the back of the net in the
past couple of weeks, was called the catalyst at the forward
position by Schmid.
In each of his last two games George has assisted on three goals
and thanks to his play-making abilities seniors such as defensemen
Jimmy Conrad, Kevin Coye, Josh Keller and Danny Sparks, forward
Nick Theslof and goalkeeper Matt Reis were able to enjoy their
final regular season game as Bruins.
"I didn’t get to play out there (at the end), but it was fun to
watch," George said. "It was fun to get to see all those guys that
never get to play and complain all year about not getting to
play.
"I wish I could have been out there, though, playing with
them."
Schmid spoke highly of his departing seniors. Their 1997
campaign is far from over, with most of them expecting nothing less
from themselves than a national championship.
But at least for today, the Bruin seniors could let their guards
down a little late in the second half and enjoy things like Sparks’
goal — the last one against his old UCSB team.
"The seniors have been great," Schmid said. "Today we had Josh
Keller play three different positions and I think that sums up Josh
Keller … Nick Theslof provides that control and that spark for
us."
Schmid went on to mention Coye, Conrad, Reis and Sparks after
the game. But what must have been on his mind is the upcoming game
against Stanford.
Keller explained the reason why he played so many positions on
Sunday was to prepare for the playoffs. The NCAA tournament is near
and the Bruins can’t afford a letdown from now on.
"I think we thought that we could just show up and play, but
that’s never true because for all the teams it’s their biggest game
when they play us," Reis said. "So we always have to come out ready
for them to come at us and today we didn’t."
The UCLA players and coaches are relieved to come out with a
commanding 6-1 victory on Sunday, but they will have little time to
celebrate.
The Cardinal are coming to town and from now on when anyone
faces off against the Bruins, the game should not only be the
opponent’s biggest game of the year — but also UCLA’s.
JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin
UCLA goalie Nick Rimando punches the ball safely away from the
Fresno State offense earlier this year.