CHRIS BACKLEY Senior forward McKinley Tennyson,
Jr. outmaneuvers an opponent in last week’s game against
Washington. Men’s SoccerCal d. UCLA 1-0
Oregon State d. UCLA 2-1
By Brian Thompson
Daily Bruin Reporter
When UCLA decided to leave the MPSF for the Pac-10, they did so
with the hope that the new conference would provide the Bruins with
better competition week in and week out.
The Bruins might want to be careful of what they hope for.
No. 7 UCLA (9-4-0, 1-4-0 Pac-10) had yet another grueling
weekend of conference games. After already losing two of its first
three Pac-10 games, the Bruins’ struggles continued Friday
with a 1-0 loss at California and a 2-1 loss to Oregon State
Sunday.
“After you’ve started with a winning season,
it’s been a shock to the system,” Bruin head coach Todd
Saldaña said of his team’s slump. “It’s
unfortunate that this has happened during conference
play.”
UCLA’s weekend got off to a disastrous start on Friday
when the Bruins were upset by Cal (3-9-1, 1-2-1 Pac-10). The Bears,
who came into the game with only two victories, were able to
capitalize on a late goal to beat UCLA.
The game was a defensive struggle throughout the contest, with
UCLA goalie D.J. Countess matching his opposite number, Cal goalie
Brian Walker, save for save.
Both teams had a few scoring chances in the game. Bruin forward
Cliff McKinley alone took four shots, while the Bears’
offensive attack was led by midfielder Ramiro Arredondo and forward
Austin Ripmaster, who tallied three shots each.
The Bears nearly took the lead before halftime when a strike by
Arredondo from point-blank range hit the crossbar.
Cal was finally able to break the deadlock in the 85th minute
when Ripmaster beat a diving Countess from 12 yards out.
“We needed this badly after dealing through adversity all
season,” Bears head coach Kevin Grimes said in a press
release. “The guys played hard for 90 minutes and it paid
off. This is a big win for us.”
Meanwhile, the Bruins looked to Sunday’s game against the
Beavers to end their losing skid. Oregon State (7-7-1, 1-3-1
Pac-10), however, jumped out to an early lead in the third minute
with a goal by defender Josh McCarty.
The Bruins countered right back three minutes later when Chadd
Davis scored his first goal of the season in the sixth minute. The
game stayed that way until the 76th minute, when midfielder Josh
Elbaum scored the game-winner.
Although the Bruins once again out-shot their opponents (19-13),
they were unable to put away the game.
In Sunday’s contest, UCLA was hampered with seniors Ryan
Lee (hamstring injury) and Shaun Tsakiris (yellow cards) sitting
out. That left the Bruin attack reliant on McKinley Tennyson, Jr.,
and opponents are quickly learning that, in recent games, shutting
down Tennyson means shutting down UCLA.
“We’ve got to be more than a one-player
offense,” Saldaña said. “We’ve relied too
much on Kei. Teams have been able to focus on (him).”
This UCLA team, so unaccustomed to losing, must find a way out
of this rut if it is to salvage its conference season.
“We’ve outplayed our opponents,” Saldaña
added. “We’ve just made errors and have gotten burned
by them. They are pouncing on our mistakes.”
As a young team, most expected that there would be a learning
curve, but if the Bruins don’t turn things around quick,
panic will set in at the North Athletic Field.