The Bruins led for 63 minutes, but when the final whistle blew, they had failed to leave with a win.
After taking an early lead against then-No. 13 Oregon State (5-0-0, 2-0-0 Pac-12), UCLA men’s soccer (1-2-1, 0-1-1) conceded two late goals and lost the match 2-1 on Saturday in Corvallis.
In the 11th minute, it was freshman forward Grayson Doody’s streaking cross-field run that caught the attention of senior midfielder Andrew Paoli, who chipped the ball to Doody. After taking the ball down off his chest, Doody volleyed the ball past the Beavers’ keeper and sent the Bruins into the lead.
It was the first time undefeated Oregon State had been behind in a game all season.
“I found a little bit of space to receive it, and we’ve been talking about having those types of runs and looking for those types of runs in behind the backline in training this week and in film, so I had a little bit of space,” Paoli said. “I saw (Doody) making a good run, and I just tried to put it in his path, and he made a really good finish on it.”
For the rest of the first half, UCLA weathered its opponent’s attacks, entering halftime having been outshot by Oregon State but maintaining its one-goal advantage.
Then, in the 58th minute, the Beavers had an opportunity to tie the game after being awarded a penalty kick. Stepping up to take the kick for Oregon State was forward Gloire Amanda, who had scored in four consecutive games and leads the Pac-12 in goals scored.
Nonetheless, the shot by Amanda was saved by junior goalkeeper Justin Garces. He would finish the game with four saves.
“(Garces) is one of our phenomenal players,” Doody said. “He’s not just incredible in goal – he’s a great leader as well so he kind of helps us out throughout the whole game. I mean he gives us all confidence knowing he’s in the net, and as it showed against Oregon State, he came up with some huge saves to keep us in the game for as long as we were.”
Following a free kick goal in the 74th minute by the Beavers, the Bruins went a man down after sophomore midfielder Luke Bone received his second yellow card. Seven minutes later, a shot from outside the box by Oregon State squeaked past Garces to give the team a 2-1 advantage it would hold on to through the final whistle.
Besides Doody’s goal, the Bruins posted only two shots over the course of the match. In its first four games, the team has averaged 6.3 shots, compared with the 12.2 shots per game it averaged over the past four seasons.
Doody said the physical toll of defending for so long eventually led to UCLA conceding the late goals.
“Especially in the second half, I think once you’re defending for so long, it almost seems like you’re breaking down a little bit,” Doody said. “So eventually I think it kind of wore down a bit by constantly defending, and we didn’t really get much attack going in the second half.”
The win allowed the Beavers to match their best start to a season in program history.
“It’s hard to go on the road, and we controlled the game, I think for spells, in a way that I liked,” said coach Ryan Jorden. “But we got to continue to grow so we can do it for longer and understand the nature of the game and how to survive some moments where it’s maybe not ideal for us.”
UCLA will continue its three-game stretch of taking on nationally ranked opponents with a match Saturday at 2 p.m. against undefeated No. 4 Stanford.
