Monday, October 12, 1998
Bruins stay undefeated in MPSF with shutout against
California
M.SOCCER: Defending national champs UCLA continue longest home
winning-streak in nation
By Moin Salahuddin
Daily Bruin Contributor
The second-ranked Bruins have dominated their competition the
past two seasons with an explosive offense and an impenetrable
defense.
As they have dismantled the opposition, UCLA has gained national
recognition for their program, especially after their immensely
successful season last year.
As the Bruins scored three times in a span of less than six
minutes, UCLA proved their status as one of the top teams in the
nation is well deserved.
Is this the talented football team coached by Bob Toledo or the
defending national champion soccer team led by Sigi Schmid?
While the football team ascends the ranks of the elite, the
soccer team has already proven its worth.
Heading into Sunday’s contest versus the California Golden
Bears, the Bruins were 8-1 overall this season. UCLA has been
shutting down opponents, allowing only two teams to score on them
all year. Sunday’s match was no different for the Bruins.
UCLA demolished the Bears 5-0 at home to extend their regular
season home-winning streak to an amazing 24 games (28 overall).
With Sunday’s defeat of Cal, the last home loss was effectively
avenged. Both Martin Bruno and Shea Travis contributed two goals
while senior Seth George assisted on three goals.
‘I’m pretty satisfied,’ Bruno said. ‘It was good coming off a
tough game against Stanford and then beating the crap out of Cal.
We needed this win to go up 2-0 in league. I’m pretty happy about
it.’
‘I wish I could have gotten three,’ Bruno said. ‘I didn’t get
that lucky.’
The Bruins opened up scoring in the 27th minute when the Cal
goalie missed a routine ball. Bruno got the deflection and kicked
it into an empty net.
Two minutes later, UCLA’s offense went back to work. George and
Sasha Victorine set up Travis, who fired a bullet to the top left
corner to extend the lead to 2-0.
‘I’m definitely satisfied with my play today,’ Travis said. ‘Two
years ago, they (Cal) upset us here. But later that season we beat
them 4-0. I’m glad to bring them here on our new field, and show
them what UCLA soccer is all about.’
Another two minutes later, Carlos Bocanegra and George fed a
ball to Bruno, who headed the ball over the helpless Bear
goalkeeper. Bruno scored and UCLA headed into halftime with a 3-0
lead.
In the 63rd minute, McKinley Tennyson, Jr. outmaneuvered a Cal
defender and passed the ball to Travis. Travis blasted another shot
and gave the Bruins a 4-0 lead.
Sophomore Caleb Westbay and George fed a ball to senior Junior
Gonzalez in the 78th minute. Gonzalez rifled his own shot into the
top right corner, just out of the reach of the Bears’ keeper to
round out the scoring 5-0.
Sophomore goalkeepers Nick Rimando and Kevin Perrault combined
for the shutout, thwarting every attack launched by the Bears.
The Bruins (9-1 overall, 2-0 MPSF) completed a sweep of the Bay
Area schools, after posting a 1-0 victory over Stanford on
Friday.
‘It was one of our best games of the season,’ head coach Schmid
said. ‘We substituted a lot and many played well today, especially
Shea Travis.’
‘We got a big win Friday and a very convincing win today,’
Schmid said. ‘Hopefully, we’ve sent a message to ourselves that
we’re ready to defend our conference title and a message to the
rest of the league.’
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