Younger players work to assist UCLA men’s soccer team against Stanford

Nine games into the season, the No.1-ranked recruiting class in the nation has lived up to the lofty expectations and has already made a significant impact to the UCLA men’s soccer team.

When UCLA (6-2-1,1-0-0 Pac 12) hosts Stanford (6-2-1, 1-1-0) tonight, coach Jorge Salcedo said that he’s expecting an energetic team that fights for every loose ball. The Bruins will hope to match that energy, and it doesn’t hurt that there will be so many young freshmen in blue running all over the field.

“This past weekend we had several of them on the field against San Diego State, our first conference match,” said Salcedo. “Here we are, nine games into the season, and they’ve played a lot of minutes, so we’ve been really happy with their performances.”

Last Saturday against San Diego State, freshman forward Kevin De La Torre scored his first career UCLA goal at a crucial moment, tying the game up late in the second half and will be hoping to add to his total against Stanford.

But De La Torre isn’t the only recruit to contribute this season. Freshman Brian Iloski has a goal and an assist, sophomore midfielder Jordan Vale, a transfer, also scored a goal, and freshman forward/midfielder Gage Zerboni has assisted on two goals.

The older players on the team have noticed just how talented these new recruits are, especially after scrimmages in practice when the younger players would play their older counterparts and sometimes win.

“They’ve assimilated themselves very well and they’re definitely raising the bar for our whole team,” said senior defender Joe Sofia. “They’ve all come in and played a significant role from the start and I think so far they’ve earned their title of being the No. 1 recruiting class this season.”

No. 6 UCLA has relied on a balance of both young and old so far in the season, which Vale said that he enjoyed. Last year, he was the leading scorer for Syracuse before transferring to UCLA. He said that he’s happy with the role he has now because the team has so many weapons offensively.

“I think I transitioned pretty well, the lads are really great,” said Vale. “They made it quite easy to transition just off the pitch, training-wise and during games.”

Both Salcedo and Sofia said that it’s not a surprise just how much of an impact these recruits can have on any single game.

“I recruit guys to come and play right away, not to sit on the bench,” Salcedo said.

And against the Cardinal, the freshmen will be on the field, making an impact despite their age.

“Age in soccer is not too big of a deal; if you don’t think about it, you can do really well as a freshman,” Vale said. “Kevin, Brian, and all the other freshmen have all showed that.”