EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Forward Tim
Pierce wrestles the ball away from the Washington defense
on Sunday. UCLA d. Oregon St. 1-0
UCLA d. Washington 3-2
By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Their faces showed a mixture of disbelief and joy. The UCLA
men’s soccer team had accomplished exactly what it had set
out to do in the most unusual of ways.
As Tony Lawson refused to be stopped down the left side, the
entire Bruin bench was ready to storm the field ““ they could
sense the end. Lawson slid the ball across the box to a streaking
Cliff McKinley, who with conviction gave UCLA a 3-2 overtime
victory over Washington.
“Beyond crazy,” UCLA head coach Todd Saldaña
said of the play.
“We were rushing the field when Tony made the run,”
senior midfielder Brandon Kay said. “We saw it happen. It was
beautiful. That’s what all goals should look like.”
Things didn’t always look so bright for a team which had
scored only two goals in its past four games. The Bruins (10-6-4,
5-2-1 Pac-10), in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time
since 1982, needed wins against Oregon State and Washington in
their final regular season weekend of play.
A 1-0 win against the Beavers (5-10, 1-5), compliments of a Matt
Taylor eighth-minute goal, set things up for Sunday’s
dramatic affair.
The Huskies (12-4, 3-3) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 13th
minute when defender Bryn Ritchie expertly headed a cross into the
top right corner ““ the first goal UCLA had allowed since Oct.
26, a span of nearly 450 minutes.
The Bruins responded with a goal from forward Tim Pierce in the
30th minute, a looping shot from about 25 yards out over an
out-of-position Washington goalkeeper Chad Olsen.
Husky defender Seth Marsh answered with a monstrous free kick
from nearly 40 yards in the 39th minute.
The score would remain 2-1 until late in the second half. Sloppy
play made a UCLA comeback seem unlikely, but the Bruins turned up
their intensity in the last 10 minutes of regulation.
After misses by forward Phillip Harr and Tim Pierce, it
could’ve been easy for the Bruins to quit. But a relentless
attack had the Husky defense reeling. UCLA midfielder Adolfo
Gregorio’s cross from 45-yards out on a free kick was half
cleared by Washington centerback and landed next to Taylor. With
time running out in the 88th minute, Taylor scissor-kicked the ball
straight down and the ball sneaked past the right post.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Taylor said.
“Two minutes left. It put us in contention to win the
game.”
For the seventh time this season and fourth in the last five
games, the Bruins were headed into overtime.
“We knew if we got a goal and got it to overtime, we knew
we were going to win,” McKinley said.
A few minutes later Lawson would make his run and McKinley would
end the game.
Now the Bruins feel confident about their playoff chances. They
could even win the Pac-10 title with a Stanford loss to either OSU
or Washingon next weekend.
“They earned it today, so I wish them well,”
Washington head coach Dean Wurzberger said.
Mission accomplished for UCLA. Next up the playoffs, though they
will probably let the impact of this weekend’s games sink in
before moving on.
“In situations like this intelligent words don’t
usually come,” Saldaña said.
They said enough on the field.