ANNA AVIK In a game earlier this season, sophomore
Scot Thompson pushes past two Mount Saint Mary’s
players. UCLA won the match 3-2.
By Brian Thompson
Daily Bruin Reporter
Until last Sunday, the UCLA men’s soccer team did not know
what it was like to taste defeat. They had shot out of the gates
this season, winning their first eight games and earning the
consensus No. 1 ranking in the nation.
But following UCLA’s 1-0 loss to No. 4 Stanford last
Sunday, the Bruins will look to bounce back from defeat for the
first time this season.
The Bruins, who now rank anywhere from No. 2 to No. 6 depending
on what poll you look at, will attempt to get back to their winning
ways this weekend with a pair of Pac-10 match-ups at home. UCLA
(8-1-0 overall, 0-1-0 Pac-10) will battle Oregon State tonight at
Spaulding Field, and take on No. 7 Washington at Drake Stadium on
Sunday.
“We’ve been really positive this week,” Bruin
captain Ryan Lee said. “We needed a little kick in the
butt.”
Lee and his teammates hope that last Sunday’s loss to the
Cardinal was just a wakeup call. It seems everyone at the North
Athletic Field is putting a positive spin on things this week at
practice in preparation for the upcoming games.
“Losing grounds you,” Lee said. “It’s
always good to have a goal to look up to rather than just
maintaining something.”
Head coach Todd Saldaña is also looking forward to building
a new winning streak.
“We want to get back on track and get our confidence
back,” he said.
The Bruins will look no further than Oregon State in their quest
to get back into the win column. The Beavers (5-5-1, 0-1-1) are
winless in their last three contests. OSU is coming off of a 1-1
tie with California in Corvalis, Ore. last Friday.
A familiar face for many Bruin soccer fans will be that of
Beaver defender Gavin Shak. Shak, a sophomore, is the younger
brother of former UCLA standout and current MLS rookie Steve Shak.
Other OSU notables include forward Matt Olsen, who has tallied four
goals and two assists this year, and goalkeeper Peter Billmeyer,
who has a 1.04 goals-against average.
Beaver head coach Dana Taylor knows that UCLA will be aggressive
tonight. He believes, however, that the Bruins’
aggressiveness will open the door for his squad to strike back.
“There will be some opportunities to
counter-attack,” he said in a statement about tonight’s
game. “I like our match-ups. We have a very good midfield and
they have a very good midfield as well. Up front, though,
it’ll be interesting to see how they play, because
we’ll come at them with three forwards. We’ll see how
they match up.”
While confident in his team’s ability to come back,
Saldaña is wary of a potential Beaver upset.
“Oregon State has been up and down this year,” he
said. “But they are a very athletic and physical team. With
them in the conference now, everyone is excited.”
But perhaps looming even larger is Sunday’s game against
the first place Huskies (8-3-0, 3-0-0). Washington is on a
five-game winning streak and has climbed into the top 10 in the
Soccer America poll. Last Friday, the Huskies upset No. 4 Stanford
2-1on the road in overtime.
Washington has a well balanced attack, with forward Greg Foisie,
defender Bryn Ritchie, and midfielder Ben Somoza all sharing the
team lead with nine points. In goal, Chad Olsen holds an impressive
1.00 goals-against average with three and a half shutouts.
“Obviously going 3-0 in conference is a good start,”
Husky coach Dean Wurzberger said in a statement. “We are off
to the start in conference that we’d hoped for. We’ve
grown as a team. We’ll find out more, obviously, playing at
UCLA Sunday.”
Of course, the Bruins will also be finding out a lot this
weekend. How will they bounce back from defeat? How will the Bruins
compete against a west coast power in Washington?
The questions will be answered this weekend.