At the beginning of the season, the head coaches of the conference predicted the UCLA men’s soccer team to be the first Pac-12 champion.
It was an easy prognostication to make, as this would be the Bruins’ third conference championship in four years if they were to win the crown.
However, UCLA stumbled considerably at the beginning of the season, falling from its original No. 2 preseason ranking to No. 25 after going winless in its first three games.
Now, it looks to live up to the high expectations of its preseason billing.
The Bruins open up Pac-12 play this weekend by hosting their Northern California adversaries, the Stanford Cardinal and California Bears.
UCLA takes on Cal today at Drake Stadium, pitting the predicted first- and second-place teams against each other.
Either the Bruins or the Bears have won the past nine conference championships, and both teams have established themselves as perennial conference and national soccer powerhouses.
The two matches last year between the teams in the budding rivalry were nail-biters, with UCLA winning the first game at Cal 1-0 in double overtime.
Cal got the better of UCLA the second time at Drake Stadium with the same score, but this time, the goal was scored in the first overtime period.
Although the Bruins have three losses on the year so far, all the games have been close and the team has not conceded more than two goals in any match.
Redshirt senior goalkeeper Brian Rowe and his defensive back four are looking to contain the Bears, who are coming off a three-goal shutout victory against Vermont.
“It helps a lot having the same starting back four from last year return ““ almost the same starting 11 last year as well ““ so while last year, it took a little while to get our formation down, this year, we’ve been able to gain confidence defensively,” Rowe said.
“We’re definitely looking forward to play Cal again. Last year, they beat us at home and ended up winning the Pac-10 by a point, so we all remember that.”
The Cardinal take on the Bruins on Sunday afternoon and are riding a wave of confidence after winning three straight games after a rough start of going winless through five games.
UCLA is coming off their first home loss of the season against SMU, which snapped their five-game winning streak.
“The loss cooled us off a little bit. I know everyone on the field was disappointed with how that game ended,” Rowe said. “It hit us in the mouth, and it showed us that talent alone won’t win games for us, and some games we’re just going to have to dig deep and find ways to win them. It’s definitely a little bit of a gut check, and it may be for the best.”
“We’re going to be confident and go forward as a team, that’s our game plan. We get a clean start to the season now with conference play and we’re going to take advantage of it,” said sophomore midfielder Kelyn Rowe.
Compiled by Chris Nguyen, Bruin Sports senior staff.