Men’s soccer eliminated from NCAA Tournament with loss to Louisville
Forward Abu Danladi scored the UCLA’s single goal in its 2-1 loss against Louisville, which eliminated them from the NCAA Tournament. The junior led the team with seven goals on the season. (Hannah Ye/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Grant Sugimura
Nov. 20, 2016 10:43 p.m.
The bright lights and glaring sideline billboard barriers of Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium provided a stark contrast as to what UCLA was able to produce against Atlantic Coast Conference powerhouse Louisville on Sunday night.
The Bruins (10-8-2, 4-5-1 Pac-12) were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the second round after a 2-1 overtime loss to the No. 4 seed Cardinals (13-5-2, 5-2-1 ACC) in Louisville, Kentucky.
The generally active offensive output, courtesy of UCLA, was stagnated early. The Bruins were limited to four shots, with only one on goal, the entire first half – their lowest output since Oct. 13 against California.
However, these low numbers mask the fact that there were plenty of opportunities, just not many conversions. These included multiple errant passes to streaking junior forwards Abu Danladi and Seyi Adekoya.
The rather bleak offensive performance was supplemented by a staunch defensive presence which allowed a goal within the first three minutes, but not much else afterward.
Freshman goalkeeper Kevin Silva shut out Louisville for the rest of the first half and notched a desperate, one-handed slap save and a header in traffic during the final 10 minutes.
Within the first five minutes of the second half UCLA came out the gate firing, doubling its shots-on-goal count as well as upping its total shots to six.
Finally, the break UCLA was looking for came in the 59th minute. Louisville graduate student goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland attempted to play a ball out but instead it deflected off Danladi and made it inside the right post.
Other than a trio of saves by Silva and a couple of shots, the rest of the period saw less action as the score remained a 1-1 tie by the end of regulation.
Senior midfielder Felix Vobejda almost won it for the Bruins in the 93rd minute, but his shot sailed just high of the crossbar. And in the very next minute, the Cardinals’ sophomore forward Tate Schmitt headed in the game-winning goal.
“The entire season prepares you for the postseason,” said coach Jorge Salcedo. “The tournament gives you an opportunity to show what kind of team you have become. Based on our two tournament performances, we can be really proud of this group. Our play tonight in the second half was outstanding. We absolutely did enough to win, but the game winner did not fall for us. Our mentality and preparation was to win the game, but we came up short. Congrats to Louisville.”
The Bruins entered the tournament for the 34th year in a row and then made it to the second round for the eighth consecutive year. However, they become the third squad in six years to fail to advance to the third round.
Danladi finishes the year as the leading goal scorer for the Bruins with seven. Danladi was able to accomplish this feat while only playing in 11 games, because of injuries, compared to many of his fellow starters’ 20.
Sophomore midfielder Jackson Yueill led the team with 11 assists while Silva notched 52 saves in 11 games.
