UCLA men’s soccer beats Elon 4-0 to advance in NCAA tournament
UCLA men’s soccer celebrated its four goals against Elon as the team coasted to a victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
By Derrek Li
Nov. 25, 2013 2:44 a.m.
Everything came easily for the Bruins on Sunday, so easily that defenders were scoring goals and the team essentially put it on cruise control before halftime.
The UCLA men’s soccer team beat Elon 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in its first playoff game after getting a first-round bye.
Senior forward Victor Chavez, who had two goals on the night, struck first, scoring in the 12th minute of the game, and No. 1 UCLA (12-3-4) never looked back from there.
“It’s always good to contribute to the team,” Chavez said. “We got this done and now we’re looking forward to the next game.”
Another Bruin contributed in a way he hadn’t all season. Senior defender Joe Sofia found himself alone right in front of the net off a corner kick, and he took advantage by scoring his first goal of the season, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead in the 22nd minute.
“It feels good to score a goal, but it feels better just to get the win,” Sofia said. “We wanted to come out here and get the result today, get to the next round, and we took care of business.”
After Sofia scored his first goal of the season, junior defender Aaron Simmons joined in on the fun nine minutes later, knocking in his first goal of the year off a corner kick from junior midfielder Leo Stolz, making it 3-0.
Stolz was all over the field, taking control of the offense and racking up three assists on the night.
“Leo’s integral with the way we’ve played with the attacking third, and I’m really pleased that tonight he has three assists again,” said coach Jorge Salcedo. “We hope in the next game he can get his goals as well.”
After the Bruins took the commanding 3-0 lead in the 31st minute, Salcedo said the team seemed to take it easy for the rest of the first half.
“I wasn’t happy about the way we ended the first half,” Salcedo said. “I told the guys at halftime that I wanted them to play the second half as if it was 0-0, that if there’s another goal in the game we would be the team that scores the goal.”
The Bruins came out of halftime with more urgency than they showed right before halftime, and Chavez knocked in his second goal of the night in the 54th minute.
The 4-0 UCLA lead over Elon would stand the rest of the way, and the Bruins showed the energy that their coach wanted to see.
“The coaches even got on us because we were coasting a little bit and we really shouldn’t,” Chavez said. “That doesn’t show class, and we should learn from that.”
Even with the Bruins in control for the entirety of the game, Salcedo still said he thinks his team can improve on its performance as it heads into its next game against Connecticut on Sunday.
“I thought we gave the ball away in bad spots on the field a few times and we just need to clean those up,” Salcedo said. “There’s some nerves going into the first tournament game and now that we’ve got this win under our belt, we have a full week to get ready for the next game.”
