It had been four years since two UCLA freshmen scored in the same game.
That changed Friday night.
The goals were courtesy of former LAFC Academy teammates midfielder Tamir Ratoviz and defender Shakir Nixon – who not only each netted their first collegiate goals, but also set one another up for their breakthrough scores.
No. 10 UCLA men’s soccer (2-0-1) defeated No. 8 Portland (1-1) 2-0 in the Bruins’ first top-10 matchup and third game of the season at Wallis Annenberg Stadium on Friday.
Ratoviz broke a first half scoreless deadlock in the 54th minute, when graduate student forward Sveinn Hauksson headed down a floated trivela pass from Nixon, setting up Ratoviz to meet the ball at the back post.
“Obviously a dream come true, since I was young, to score my first goal,” Ratoviz said. “But it was a team effort. I couldn’t score if the whole play didn’t happen.”
The Pilots sent numbers forward in an effort to press and equalize, leaving the midfield unoccupied. Nixon took advantage of the open space on the right wing and sent a shot toward goal in the 76th minute.
The ball deflected off a Portland defender and into the top left corner. Before embracing his teammates, Nixon celebrated with a backflip.
“The staff, our teammates really believe in us,” Nixon said. “Even though we’re coming in as freshmen, they treat us like we’re any other person on the team.”
The Bruins – who took 12 shots in total – controlled the ball for most of the first half but faced pressure from the Pilots’ relentless counterattack, which mustered seven shots in the first.
Regardless, UCLA’s defense and junior goalkeeper Sam Joseph combatted Portland’s attack to garner their third consecutive clean sheet of the season.
“We didn’t expose ourselves too much, but it’s early, right? (We’re) not a fully well-oiled machine,” said coach Ryan Jorden. “We maybe got out of jail on one occasion but the reality is the guys worked really hard.”
Graduate student midfielder Edrey Caceres – the lone UCLA scorer so far this season – and junior midfielder Cam Wilkerson, who had the eighth-most points for the Bruins last season of all returning players, were subbed off the field during the 33rd and 38th minute, respectively, with neither returning.
The substitutions made way for a new Bruin midfield, led by Ratoviz and junior midfielder Amjot Narang.
“To play the way we want to play, you got to have central midfielders that have a really good feel of space,” Jorden said. “I thought both he (Ratoviz) and Amjot were terrific in it, and they allowed for us to have a free flow. We didn’t actually put those other central midfielders back on, which is great for us.”
Jorden also deployed Nixon and senior defender Pablo Greenlee on the right side of the field in the second half, leading to increased defensive presence and ball retention.
“Even though we’re both defensive players, we both have an attack-minded playing style,” Nixon said. “That makes us really dynamic going in behind.”
Prior to Ratoviz and Nixon, the last time multiple freshmen scored in the same game for the Bruins was when now-alumni Grayson Doody and Tommy Silva accomplished the feat in 2020.
While the presence of the freshmen tandem led to decreased minutes for veteran players, Jorden said the game illustrated the team’s depth and its ability to produce at an elite level.
“You’re super happy for them,” Jorden said. “They know what it takes to win games like that and that’s why they’re at UCLA.”
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