Brilliant defense, strong offense should carry UCLA soccer squad

Friday, October 2, 1998

Brilliant defense, strong offense should carry UCLA soccer
squad

PREVIEW: Impressive goalie, attacking forwards may help Bruins
capture another title

By Moin Salahuddin

Daily Bruin Contributor

Defense is the key to winning championships.

If that statement is true, the UCLA men’s soccer team should
have their second straight national title already.

The Bruins (6-1 overall) are ranked No. 2 in the nation by
Soccer America and are currently one of the hottest teams in the
nation. Led by sophomore goalkeeper Nick Rimando, UCLA has shut out
their last five opponents. The Bruins have only allowed one team to
score this year in seven matches, losing to the No. 8 South
Carolina Gamecocks 2-1 earlier this season.

UCLA will host Loyola Marymount (3-5) on Sunday at UCLA’s North
Athletic Field at 2:00 p.m. The Lions have a lackluster offense,
having only scored just five goals this season, compared to 23 by
the Bruins. Sophomore forward Robert Palikuca leads LMU with two
goals. UCLA is coming off a 2-0 victory over San Diego on Friday,
and has never lost to LMU in 16 games. The Bruins won the last
contest, a 3-1 comeback at home last season.

Former UCLA standout and assistant coach Paul Krumpe returns to
lead his Loyola Marymount squad against his former team. Krumpe, an
assistant under UCLA head coach Sigi Schmid from 1995 to 1997, is
in his first season as head coach of the Lions. Another former
Bruin player, Brian Irvin (1993-96), is a member of Krumpe’s staff
at Loyola.

Coming into their match with the Lions, the Bruins will try to
add on to their home winning streak, which is the longest active
streak in the NCAA. Their 22 consecutive regular season home
victories (26 overall) ranks them fifth all-time, tying with Saint
Louis (1968-1972) and Notre Dame (1977-1978). Tulsa (1988-92) holds
the record with 39 consecutive home wins. The Bruins have not
dropped a home contest since Sept. 22, 1996, when they lost 2-1 in
overtime to California.

The three hottest Bruins currently are Rimando defensively, and
Seth George and Shaun Tsakiris offensively.

Rimando currently sports a shutout steak of an amazing 445
minutes while the squad overall has a streak of 481 consecutive
minutes. Replacing last year’s Final Four Defensive MVP Matt Reis,
Rimando has been impressive in every outing while having a near
perfect goals-allowed average of 0.32.

George has a point scoring streak of 8 games, which is the
fourth best in UCLA history. With the goal Friday versus San Diego,
George has 40 for his career, ranking him ninth all-time. He leads
the team with 16 points this season and is averaging 2.3 points per
game.

Sophomore midfielder Tsakiris has had two game-winning goals in
the last three games, scoring the first goal in UCLA’s 2-0 win over
San Diego. He ranks third on the team in scoring with eight
points.

In every facet of the game, the Bruins are on fire. UCLA has
shut out 11 of its last 13 opponents and have scored 23 goals this
season, an MPSF-leading average of 3.29 per game.

If the Bruins can maintain this pace, the Lions will suffer
through another loss.

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© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board