Bruins use bye week to recover from tough loss, heal injured players
Junior midfielder/defender Grady Howe said last week’s bye came at the “perfect time” for UCLA men’s soccer, which was coming off a tough 1-0 loss at home to Cal on Nov. 2. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Matt Joye
Nov. 12, 2014 11:55 p.m.
Last time UCLA men’s soccer took the field for a match, coach Jorge Salcedo called it the most disappointing result of the year.
It was a game defined by a lapse in mental focus on UCLA’s part, which led to Cal scoring the game’s only goal in the 47th minute.
“It was a very frustrating loss because I think that we had more of the game than Cal. And they were just fortunate enough to score from an individual mistake of ours,” said junior forward Larry Ndjock.
After the 1-0 loss, some UCLA players looked visibly dejected. Sophomore midfielder Felix Vobejda stood silently with a blank stare straight at the ground, possibly contemplating the fact that the Bruins were no longer in control of their own destiny in the Pac-12 title race.
With all these circumstances hitting them at once, it seemed like the appropriate time for the Bruins to get a break from the game.
They got just that.
“Our coach told us just to have a couple days off, just because it was a long season” Ndjock said.
UCLA had the convenience of doing so, as its lone bye week in the Pac-12 season happened to come right after the Cal game on Nov. 2. Rest and recovery were at a premium, as the Bruins were admittedly worn out both physically and mentally after that loss to the Bears.
“I think that a lot of guys were banged up after the Cal game, including myself,” said junior midfielder/defender Grady Howe. “For those guys who have kind of been dealing with a lot of injuries, it was a much-needed break … It came at the perfect time of year.”
Howe added that the increased rest time has allowed one of the team’s previously injured offensive weapons – freshman forward Abu Danladi – to get back to practicing and scrimmaging. Danladi was one of the key players behind the Bruins’ four-game win streak last month, but a hamstring injury against Oregon State on Oct. 19 prevented him from playing during the loss to Cal.
Along with players like Danladi healing physically, the entire team has been able to recover mentally throughout the bye week, with a refreshed focus looking forward, instead of looking back on what could have been.
“(Salcedo’s) tone (at practice) wasn’t anything bad or something like that,” Ndjock said. “We just wanted to analyze what we did good … and how we can improve that in the next couple weeks and especially in the playoffs.”
As difficult as the Cal loss may have been, No. 6 UCLA (10-4-4, 5-2-2 Pac-12) still has a chance to win the conference title heading into the regular season finale against San Diego State on Sunday. A UCLA win and a loss or a tie by No. 3 Stanford against Oregon State would make the Bruins Pac-12 Champions and render the Cal loss almost meaningless.
