UCLA soccer senior Reed Williams looks forward to shaking off slump

Seventeen games played. Six hundred and eighty minutes on the field. One goal scored. Senior forward Reed Williams is in a slump.

Scoring goals is what forwards live for, and it’s something that used to come naturally for Williams. It was as habitual as breathing.

During his high school and club days, it was almost a given that Williams would score every time he stepped on the field.

“It got to a point where I was scoring so many goals that it just became normal to score two or three a game,” Williams said. “In club, you could have a bad week of practice but then go out and score a goal or two and everything would be OK. … I definitely took it for granted a little bit.”

Even coming into college, Williams had little problem putting the ball in the back of the net; he scored five goals in his freshman year and tied for the team lead during his junior year with seven. But with only one game left in conference play this year, Williams is sitting on just one goal – a 74th minute header in a 3-1 loss to UC Irvine back in mid-September.

“I keep waiting for the next one to come and it just hasn’t. … A lot of goals are just lucky with whether you’re at the right place at the right time, and it’s not really falling for me right now,” Williams said. “It’s definitely hard. Your confidence wavers for sure when you’re not scoring all the time like you’re used to.”

No one would argue that Williams has lost his ability to score goals. As he mentioned, sometimes it’s about more than just skill. But those looking to attribute the slump to more concrete causes would point to a preseason knee surgery that kept Williams off the field for eight weeks.

The surgery – which was mainly to repair a partially torn meniscus – did not allow Williams to train until about a week before the Bruins’ first game of the season. His fitness level was therefore not where it needed to be, leading to limited playing time to begin the year.

“The surgery was pretty unfortunate timing, being in summer. That’s usually when everyone is getting their fitness base down,” said senior defender Joe Sofia. “All season he’s been trying to get back to his top form, and I think he’s finally getting there.”

While Williams said he’s now close to 100 percent, his playing time has remained relatively scarce, with only four starts in the 17 games played. The lack of playing time has not only proved to be difficult to deal with for Williams, but also for his self-proclaimed No. 1 fan: his mother.

“It’s heartbreaking as a mom, especially since it’s his senior year, when he wants to go pro and there are scouts out there,” said Lori Williams. “It’s very difficult. It’s been my son’s dream his whole entire life to go pro, and I want him to have the opportunity.”

Reed Williams suffered through a similar situation once before. After coming off a productive freshman season, he found himself fighting for minutes throughout his sophomore year and went into the postseason with a grand total of zero goals. That year, the desire to score and end the drought became somewhat of an unhealthy obsession.

“That season I was always like, ‘I have to score this game,’ and then, ‘I have to score this next game,’ and it just went on and on,” Williams said. “I kept worrying about having to score each game instead of just worrying about making positive plays for the team and knowing that my goal would come eventually.”

Eventually, the goal came, and it could not have come at a more crucial moment; Williams’ first and only goal of his sophomore year was the winning goal in overtime that sent UCLA to the Final Four.

With the Bruins poised to make another deep postseason run this year, teammates and coaches are more than optimistic that Williams will once again break through when he’s needed the most.

“Soccer is a sport where, as a goal scorer, you score a goal and you can get yourself in a little groove,” said coach Jorge Salcedo. “I feel like (Williams) is still going to score very important goals for us this season, and with the most important part of the year coming up I’m happy with where he’s at and where he’s headed for us.”

Although Williams seconds his coach’s thoughts, he now knows that it’s about more than just putting the ball in the net. Forwards may live to score goals, but it’s not all they’re good for.

“Everyone goes in with zero goals in playoffs, and that’s where it counts. I think it’ll happen for me, but you never know,” Williams said. “Even if I don’t score goals I know I can still find a way to help this team win a national championship, and as long as we do that, I’m happy.”