No. 1 men’s soccer draws the Card 2-2 after surrendering lead
Freshman forward and reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week Seyi Adekoya (middle) scored both goals for No. 1 UCLA in its 2-2 draw against No. 8 Stanford on Thursday. (Max Himmelrich/Daily Bruin)
By Matt Joye
Oct. 31, 2014 8:33 a.m.
What began as a showdown between two of the nation’s top teams quickly evolved into a duel between two freshmen.
By the 77th minute, the score was: Stanford’s Corey Baird 2, UCLA’s Seyi Adekoya 2. From that point forward, the race between the two players was onto the hat trick – to the match victory.
The Stanford midfielder and UCLA forward each had their shots in the open field in the last 33 minutes of the game. But both seemed to have run out of gas, failing to execute on their respective opportunities as the game ended in a 2-2 tie.
“I was definitely a little bit tired,” Adekoya said, after playing 99 of the 110 minutes in the double-overtime match.
Whether it was due to fatigue or not, the No. 1 UCLA team collectively wilted down the stretch, conceding a goal in the 77th minute that allowed Stanford to tie the game back up at 2-2.
“I think we could have closed the game out better,” said coach Jorge Salcedo. “It was one of those nights where our rhythm was just a little bit off everywhere.”
But before Stanford’s 77th-minute equalizer, it looked as if the Bruins were going to escape with a win and three points in the conference standings, even though they weren’t playing at their top potential.
Goals by Adekoya in the 14th and 59th minutes put UCLA on top 2-1, which seemed like cushion enough for a Bruin defense that entered the game with a 0.73 goals against average. But without sophomore defender Nathan Smith – who broke his leg against Washington last week – the Bruins’ back line looked to be a little bit shaky against the Cardinal (9-2-3, 2-1-3 Pac-12).
“We were off a little bit. Must be from maybe losing Nathan Smith and not having the same continuity in the back,” Salcedo said.
UCLA (10-3-4, 5-1-2) conceded two goals but could have allowed at least two more. Stanford had a one-on-one chance inside the box in the 51st minute, but airmailed it over the crossbar. And if not for a precise, open-field slide tackle by UCLA freshman defender Chase Gasper in the 87th minute, Stanford could have had a clean chance to score the winner.
“We let in two today, but I felt the defense – we did a pretty good job, kept us in the game,” Gasper said.
In the end, the UCLA coach said he’d take the point against the nation’s No. 8 team on a night when his team was neither clicking nor at full strength without Smith on the pitch.
“Are we happy with a point? No, but we’ll take the point,” Salcedo said.
