By Amanda Fletcher
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
If the two exhibition games the No. 3 UCLA men’s soccer
team played last week were supposed to forecast their progress
going into pre-season competition, the outlook is still cloudy.
After defeating Westmont College 3-0 on Wednesday, it seemed as
if there was nothing but blue skies ahead.
With one freshman and two seniors taking care of the scoring,
the Bruins looked like they had figured out how to blend their
veteran talent with their new talent.
But a storm rolled in when UCLA fell to Loyola Marymount 2-1 on
Saturday.
With 10 incoming freshmen and one junior transfer, the big issue
for the team is getting everyone on the same page.
And things were looking good against Westmont. Six freshmen
started and over half the team was rotated in.
Old and new combined when senior Shaun Tsakiris and freshman
forward Adolfo Gregorio did a quick give-and-go to put UCLA on the
board in the sixth minute.
“I was a little nervous at first,” Gregorio said.
“After a couple touches and after the first five minutes I
started playing my game.
“It calmed us down for the first game.”
Two more goals came before half-time with Tsakiris assisting
senior McKinley Tennyson, Jr. on one and scoring another
himself.
“For a first game, I’m very pleased. They did what
they needed to do in the first half,” said head coach Todd
Saldaña. “The guys that started went into a lull.
That’s why we brought a lot of people off the bench. The game
wasn’t over to them.”
Game two against LMU saw much of the same thing. The Bruins came
out strong in the first half, but were unable to put the ball
away.
“In the first half I was satisfied with the effort,”
Saldaña said. “We knew it was going to be physical and
we managed that well.”
Midway through the second half, UCLA jumped ahead when Gregorio
slotted the ball through a hole to freshman Matt Taylor, who
chipped it in past LMU goalkeeper Jerad Bailey.
The Lions didn’t stay down for long, quickly striking back
with a goal of their own. After that the Bruin defense broke down
and the Lions put away the game-winner.
Though there were some close opportunities in the final minutes,
a win just wasn’t in the trajectory.
“The younger players are a little naive to think that goal
chances will keep coming,” Saldaña said. “They
don’t have the experience of knowing how tight college games
are.”
With a tournament in Bloomington, Ind. against Butler and
top-ranked Indiana this weekend, the freshmen will definitely get
the experience they need.
As for the returning players, they no doubt remember the last
time they faced Indiana when the Bruins lost 3-2 in quadruple
overtime in the NCAA semifinals last year.
“There’s a rivalry and tradition, at least for the
past four years I’ve been here,” Tsakiris said.
Despite the tough competition headed their way, with the regular
season still weeks away, it’s still all about the chemistry
for the men’s soccer team.
“If it was all there now, I think I’d be
worried,” Saldaña said. “You want to hit your
stride at the end of the season. The goal is just to keep
progressing.”
The five-day forecast may not be too clear, but as the season
continues, conditions should improve.