The pride of the west

  BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Freshman
Matt Taylor celebrates after scoring against
Loyola Marymount on Aug. 26. He scored UCLA’s only goal in
the game.

By Jim Guthrie
Daily Bruin Contributor Nine months ago, the kick by
Indiana’s Ryan Mack in the classic quadruple-overtime
semifinal game seemed much more deadly. The Bruins entered the game
No. 2 in the nation, with one of the best squads the school had
ever put together. Additionally, UCLA was trying to win one for all
the West Coast schools hurt by the unspoken East Coast bias in NCAA
soccer. They wanted to establish themselves as one of the top
programs in the nation by capturing their second title in four
years. Those lofty expectations crashed down to earth when the shot
off Mack’s foot hit the back of the net. Now, after months of
overcoming the disappointment and heartache of last season’s
end, the Bruins, No. 1 in the NSCAA rankings, are back to work,
trying to head to Charlotte for the College Cup.

MEN’S SOCCER SCHEDULE  
Date   Opponent
Outcome/Time 08/23 08/26 09/01 09/02 09/06 09/17
09/21 09/24 09/28 10/01 10/08 10/13 10/15 10/20 10/22 10/26 10/28
11/03 11/10 11/12   Westmont Loyola Marymount @ Butler @
Indiana San Diego State San Francisco @ UC Irvine UC Santa Barbara
@ Santa Clara St. Mary’s College @ Stanford Oregon State Washington
@ Cal @ Oregon State @ Cal State Fullerton Portland @ Washington
Stanford Cal   W, 3-0 L, 2-1 W, 5-0 W, 2-1 W, 5-0 W, 3-0 7:00
PM 2:00 PM 7:00 PM 2:00 PM 2:00 PM 5:30 PM 2:00 PM 12:30 PM 2:00 PM
7:00 PM 2:00 PM 7:00 PM 2:00 PM 2:00 PM   SOURCE: Sports Info
(schedule is tentative) Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web
Adaptation by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff And their
chances are looking much better after starting the season 3-0 and
gaining a crucial 2-1 upset win over then-No.1 Indiana on Sept.
2.

“This is a different group of players,” head coach
Todd Saldaña said. “Our team felt they were the best
team in Charlotte last year, but we learned some lessons from last
year. We have to deal with the physical elements of the East Coast
teams and also impose our West Coast style of play.” The
Bruins enter their first year in the new Pac-10 men’s soccer
conference without many of the key players from last year’s
semifinal run. Gone are NSCAA player of the year Sasha Victorine,
his U.S. Olympic teammate Pete Vagenas and 2000 MLS No. 1 draft
pick Steve Shak. In their place, the Bruins will count on the
leadership of preseason All-American seniors McKinley Tennyson Jr.
and Shaun Tsakiris. They also have one of the top recruiting
classes in the nation, forming a solid squad for 1999 NSCAA Far
West coach of the year Saldaña.

Forwards Tennyson, sophomore Tim Pierce and junior Sean Walker
highlight a strong group of young forwards who, with the loss of
much of the scoring punch in the midfield, are counted on to
produce a large amount of goals. The majority of the scoring should
come from 6-foot-2 Tennyson, one of the team’s most valuable
players last year with 12 goals. The Indianapolis native will
assume the role of team leader and try not to focus on the fact he
is a Hermann trophy candidate. “My thing is to stay
focused,” said Tennyson, who scored a key goal in the Indiana
game this year. “I want to improve individually and improve
the team as much as possible. The awards will come
later.”

NSCAA/ADIDAS POLL This poll for men’s soccer
was last updated 9/18/2000.     1. UCLA 2. Penn
State 3. Creighton 4. Connecticut 5. St. Johns 6. CS-Fullerton 7.
South Carolina 8. Virginia 9. Southwest Missouri St. 10. Portland
11. Brown 12. Indiana 13. North Carolina 14. Pittsburg 15. UMBC 16.
Duke 17. Southern Methodist 18. Marquette 19. San Jose State 20.
Va-Commonwealth   SOURCE: www.espn.com *poll data
released every Monday Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web
Adaptation by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Without question, Tennyson will be the focus of the team (and
many opposing defenses). If UCLA wants to have another successful
season, it will need even more production from the forward. Even
with all of the pressure, however, Tennyson looks like a star in
the making. More will be expected of Walker and Pierce as well.
Pierce, UCLA’s 1999 Most Improved Player, may be the key to
its offensive attack if his play can draw enough attention off
Tennyson. Added to the mix are redshirt freshman Kyle Julian and a
wealth of true freshmen, including Cliff McKinley, Adolfo Gregorio,
Matt Taylor and John Carson.

Midfielders Despite the loss of stars Victorine, Vagenas, Nick
Paneno, Shea Travis and Adam Cooper, the midfield core has managed
to maintain a large amount of talent, centered around Tsakiris. A
first-team All-MPSF selection, Tsakiris should be one of the main
attacks for the team. “It’s a good start for the team
we have,” Tsakiris said. “We are excited we are No. 1
and that we beat (Indiana). But we aren’t going to loosen up.
Being No. 1 doesn’t mean too much right now.” Returning
midfield contributors include 5-7 sparkplug junior Ryan Futagaki,
senior Caleb Westbay, junior Brandon Kay and senior Brian Foote.
Futagaki should benefit from his play on various national teams,
but he is most valuable for the hustle he demonstrates on every
play. This group doesn’t have as much talent as last year,
but should provide a solid middle to complement the rest of the
team.

Defenders The defense could be called the sorcerers and the
apprentices as senior returning team captain Ryan Lee and sophomore
Scot Thompson mentor a strong group of new faces. Lee was an
offensive catalyst even on the defensive end last year with 11
points, and he will be a rock in the backfield yet again. Thompson
was named the team’s Rookie of the Year after starting eight
games and scoring the goal that sent the Indiana game into
overtime. He has been busy in the off-season playing with the U.S.
Under-20 National Team. The rookies of this bunch are as solid as
any group in the country. Nelson Akwari and Alex Yi were members of
the 1999 U.S. Under-17 team along with incoming Bruins Gregorio and
goalie D.J. Countess. Tony Lawson and Leonard Griffin are two more
standout recruits who were national team pool players. This group
holds the key to the season in being able to feed the ball upfield
while taking pressure off the goaltender. How the defense will be
able to blend the old guard with the new should be the main focus
early on in the season.

Goalies How the Bruins handle the loss of star keeper Nick
Rimando should be the most interesting development of the season.
The net minding duties will be handed over to 6-foot-1 Countess who
has been called “one of the most experienced youth
goalkeepers in U.S. history.” Many are already proclaiming
him the future goalkeeper for the U.S. National Team. In the
meantime, Countess will focus on establishing himself as one of the
team leaders and one of the best college keepers in the nation.
Backing up Countess is a pair of 6-foot-2 athletes in redshirt
freshman Zach Wells and junior Stephan Gardner.

Outlook In the early parts of the season the Bruins have shown
they have regained the intensity and momentum from last
year’s Final Four run. Any questions about the inexperience
of the defense or the team’s ability to compete with the
elite in the country were dispelled by the win over Indiana.
Another shot at the championship is far from certain, however. The
Bruins have the tools but they must work on team chemistry, stay
within their game plan of taking games one at a time, and avoid
early season upsets, as in the exhibition game against unranked
LMU. “We have a very good chance of reaching the same level
that we did last year,” Saldaña said. “Things will
be done in a different way, though, because this group will need to
win games by being organized and by supporting each other.”
Early season battles against top teams like Santa Clara and
Portland will be a test for the team’s durability and talent.
If they can remain a cohesive unit, a Pac-10 championship and
another run at Charlotte should be no problem for Saldaña and
his crew.

MEN’S SOCCER MIDFIELDER/FORWARD STARTERS  
Ryan Futagaki(Jr.) Midfielder, 5’7

Shaun Tsakiris(Sr.)
Midfielder, 5’7

Matt Taylor(Fr.) Forward, 5’11

Michael Tennyson Jr.(Sr.)
Forward, 6’2

Adolfo Gregorio(Fr.)
Forward, 5’9

SOURCE: Sports Info Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web
Adaptation by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff MEN’S
SOCCER DEFENDER/GOALKEEPER STARTERS   D.J.
Countess(Fr.) Goalie, 6’1 Nelson
Akwari(Fr.) Defender, 5’11

Ryan Lee(Sr.)
Defender 6’1

Leonard Griffen(Fr.) Defender, 6’1

Alex Yi(Fr.)
Defender, 5’2

Scott Thompson(So.)
Defender, 6’0

SOURCE: Sports Info Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web
Adaptation by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff