The Bruins fell to the Hoosiers, despite leading by 10 in the shot category.
No. 15 UCLA men’s soccer (6-4-5, 3-3-3 Big Ten) was defeated by No. 25 Indiana (8-3-5, 6-1-2) on Friday night in a 2-1 loss at Wallis Annenberg Stadium. Coach Ryan Jorden said the Bruins’ performance was terrific, barring one mistake that cost them the second goal.
In the 25th minute the Hoosiers broke through with a goal from forward Justin Weiss. A long ball sent deep into the 18-yard box fell beyond graduate student defender Nicholas Cavallo and to his mark, who crossed it to Weiss for the score.
“I definitely got a little caught out there, but we just weren’t set, and it was another moment where we kind of switched off,” Cavallo said. “But it didn’t happen again the rest of the match, which was good to see, but definitely can’t have that just turned off with one moment, because it hurts us.”
The Bruins took 11 shots in the first half, including a close-range chance for senior defender Pablo Greenlee, who broke past the defense and banked the ball off the far post and into goalkeeper JT Harms’ arms.
The Bruins found the back of the net in the 51st minute, but the goal was called for being offside. Jorden argued with the referee over the choice to review the call.
“My job is to try to fight for the team. And I’ll have to go back and read the rules. I thought it was pretty clear the way they described being able to review that, but I’ll go back and check it,” Jorden said. “I was really pleased with the guys. They restarted the game and our guys, there was no dip, the intensity was good, the fight was good.”
Cavallo said before it was overturned, the goal gave him the same energy as recent Bruin goals scored when trailing.
“I felt like it was Maryland and Ohio State again, where we got it back to 1-1, and I thought, ‘momentum is with us, we’ve got everything going for us.’ So definitely takes the wind out of the sails a little bit,” Cavallo said. “Definitely wish we had that back, just because I felt like all the momentum was with us at that point, and I felt like anything’s possible as soon as that went in.”
Following a UCLA corner where defenders freshman Allan Legaspi and graduate student Youri Senden went for the same ball, Harms drop-kicked the ball, putting forward Samuel Sarver on the break in the 60th minute. Sarver dribbled up the field past junior midfielder Tarun Karumanchi and buried his shot past sophomore goalkeeper Wyatt Nelson.
The Bruins got one back in the 65th minute.
The play was jumpstarted by a drive up the field by Greenlee, who left the ball for freshman defender Shakir Nixon at the corner of the box. Nixon’s cross found freshman midfielder Tamir Ratoviz, who laid the ball off for graduate student midfielder Edrey Caceres to launch the ball into the top right of the net.
“It’s the way we like to play. We get back out wide, and then … Shakir beat the guy, one vs. one on a cutback. Great goal from Edrey again,” Senden said. “It’s something we’ve seen over the last few weeks. It’s a great goal.”
Jorden added that Greenlee made an impact all game long.
“Pablo, that’s his best performance since he’s been at UCLA. I thought he had a challenge in front of him to deal with a very good attacking player,” Jorden said. “I thought he was incredible defensively, thought his use of the ball and getting out of trouble and creating attacking actions from the back was fabulous. That’s just a really, really top performance.”
Despite multiple opportunities, including those from fresh substitutions, the Bruins were unable to even the game.
“It’s been a tough week with three games in seven days. But everyone just tried to do everything,” Senden said. “I think the last 10 minutes, we weren’t as sharp as we were before, and we didn’t create the bigger chances that we were creating earlier in the half.”
The Bruins will wrap up regular season action Nov. 3 at home against Washington.
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