Bruins fall to Titans, top Irvine
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 19, 1998 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, October 20, 1998
Bruins fall to Titans, top Irvine
RECAP: UCLA can’t extract revenge against rival CS Fullerton
squad
By Moin Salahuddin
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA men’s soccer team has been invincible as of late,
demolishing the opposition with great ease.
Coming into the weekend, the No. 2 Bruins were riding an 8-game
winning streak. Sporting a 0.29 goals-against-average and shutting
down opponents with the No. 1 ranked defense in the entire nation,
UCLA also has managed to field the No. 3 offense in the country at
3.10 goals per game.
It would seem that UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton would
provide no resistance to UCLA’s winning cause. However, that is why
teams play matches, because the favored team does not always
win.
On Friday, the Bruins travelled to UC Irvine to attempt to
extend their winning streak. In front of a crowd of 1,155, UCLA
struggled mightily but still came out with a victory.
The Bruins opened up quickly versus the Anteaters, as Sasha
Victorine scored in just the second minute of play.
As the first half was closing, UCLA attacked once more. Defender
Ryan Lee hit a long pass to senior Seth George, who scored past the
UCI goalkeeper Kevin Mehrens. The Bruins headed into halftime with
a 2-0 lead.
The second half was quite a different story. UCI attacked the
UCLA defense and scored on a penalty kick in the 55th minute. After
a foul inside the Bruins’ box, senior Pat Lee buried his seventh
goal of the season past UCLA keeper Nick Rimando.
Mehrens kept the match close throughout, recording six saves in
the second half, for a total of seven. However, the Bruins held on
for the victory 2-1.
The Bruins left with a nine-game winning streak hoping to extend
it to ten versus their nemesis Cal State Fullerton.
Despite UCLA holding a 23-5-2 overall series lead, the Titans
always seem to provide the Bruins with a tough match. The Bruins
tried to stop the Titan’s streak of two straight wins versus UCLA
at Titan Field.
Last season, the Titans handed UCLA one its only two losses on
the year, 3-1 at Fullerton. In the first round of the 1996 NCAA
Championships, Fullerton upset the Bruins 2-1. UCLA’s last win over
Fullerton came in 1996, a 2-0 home victory that saw Sasha Victorine
and Seth George score for the Bruins.
UCLA came into the match seeking redemption yet the Titans would
not cooperate. In front of a crowd of 3,079, the defending national
champion Bruins lost to Cal State Fullerton 2-1.
The Titans opened up the scoring in the tenth minute, as Duncan
Oughton and Marco Mesrobian assisted on a score by forward Colby
Jackson. Jackson rocketed a left-foot shot just out of the reach of
Rimando.
UCLA responded 12 minutes later when Shaun Tsakiris narrowly
missed scoring, but Pete Vagenas grabbed the rebound and kicked it
in for a 1-1 tie.
Titan forward Art Ramirez responded with 12:33 left to play in
the first half. Ramirez got a ball and scored on a header to break
the 1-1 tie and hand Fullerton a 2-1 lead heading into
halftime.
The Bruins tried to respond in the second half but Titan
goalkeeper Sean Rockwell turned in a sensational performance.
Rockwell recorded six saves while shutting down the juggernaut
offense of UCLA.
The Bruins got a shot past Rockwell with nearly 22 minutes to
play. However, the Titans cleared the ball before it got through to
the goal and UCLA’s chances of revenge on Cal State Fullerton.
The Titans raised their record to 9-3-1 overall and 2-0 in the
MPSF as they beat the Bruins, the defending national champions, for
the third time in a row at Titan Stadium. The Titans now stand
alone atop the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), going
undefeated in their first two conference matches. Fullerton will
face Oregon State and a tough Washington squad on the road.
UCLA stuggled this weekend, allowing three goals in their two
games, matching the total from their first ten matches. The Bruins
fell to 10-2 overall and 3-1 in MPSF play.
The Bruins next play at Cal State Sacramento on Saturday.
Following that match, UCLA will participate in their own
tournament, the UCLA Pacific Soccer Classic.
CHARLES KUO/DAILY BRUIN
UCLA sophomore goal keeper Nick Rimando blocks a shot in a game
against Fresno State.
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