COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Junior forward Tim
Pierce and junior midfielder Jimmy
Frazelle split Loyola Marymount University’s defense
Sunday. UCLA 0 UCSB 0 LMU 1 UCLA 0
By Jon Corwin
Daily Bruin Contributor
The offense was nowhere to be found this weekend for the UCLA
men’s soccer team.
The No. 11 Bruins (3-3-2) failed to score a single goal over the
weekend in a loss to Loyola Marymount and a tie with UCSB.
Crosstown rival LMU (6-3) blanked UCLA 1-0 in a physical game at
Drake Stadium Sunday.
“We knew it would be a physical game, and we came ready to
play,” said LMU junior forward Arturo Torres, who scored the
only goal of the game in the 29th minute. “I had a lot of
confidence that we could come in here and win.”
The physical play from UCLA against LMU resulted in a red card
for forward Cliff McKinley in the 70th minute, leaving the Bruins
down a man for the last 20 minutes. Defenseman Scot Thompson picked
up a yellow card early in the second half of the contest.
Goalkeeper Zach Wells and the UCLA defense turned in solid
performances, but the offense couldn’t muster any goals as
LMU’s winning streak reached six.
The Bruins narrowly escaped another goal by Torres when McKinley
was called for a handball in the box in the 69th minute, but
Torres’ penalty kick hit the right post and went wide, out of
bounds.
“The defense has really been a solid team effort this
year,” said Wells, who only needed to make one save in 120
minutes of play in Friday’s double overtime tie with UCSB.
The Bruins forced standout Gaucho goalkeeper Dan Kennedy into
making a career-high six saves in the contest.
Sophomore Ty Maurin had several shots on goal, as the UCLA
offense put pressure on LMU goalkeeper Dan Sheridan. But time after
time the Bruins could not find a way to put the ball in the
net.
UCLA was riding high after an impressive 4-1 win over Cal State
Fullerton last Sunday, but they failed to carry the momentum from
that win into this past weekend’s games.
“We’ll see what kind of character this team
has,” Wells said.
The team currently sits at the .500 mark, with several difficult
Pac-10 matchups yet to come.
“We are a little unproven upfront,” UCLA head coach
Todd Saldaña said. “This was a down weekend for
us.”
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The Bruins hope to rebound from a disappointing weekend when
they travel to San Diego next week to take on USD and San Diego
State.
After receiving a red card, McKinley will be forced to sit out
Friday’s game at USD.