M.Soccer Brief

Bruins ready to roll up north

The UCLA men’s soccer team is looking to reverse their
recent losing trend (falling to both Stanford and Washington) as
they travel north. The Bruins (9-2 overall, 1-2 Pac-10), looking to
advance to their second straight Final Four, cannot afford to slide
anymore in the polls and will try to leap to the top of the Pac-10
with wins against California on Friday and Oregon State on
Sunday.

With little of the Pac-10 season remaining, the Bruins cannot
slip against the non-elite teams. UCLA has played fairly well on
the road this year with a 4-1 record, including victories over
Indiana and Santa Clara. The Bruins’ first loss, however,
came the last time they traveled to the Bay Area, when the Cardinal
defeated them on Oct. 8.

If the Bruins want their chance for revenge against the Cardinal
in an upcoming game to have significance, they must not overlook
the Bears.

Cal (2-9-1, 0-2-1) has struggled so far in Pac-10 play and has
scored only two goals in its last seven games. They look to Kendall
Simmons to jumpstart an offense that has not proven it is as good
as it was last year when Cal went 11-4-2 and ended the season
ranked. Adding to the Bears’ problems have been the
adjustment time for new coach Kevin Grimes and new goaltenders
junior Marco Palmieri and freshman Brian Walker.

The Bruins will look to take advantage of the Bears with their
potent offense anchored by senior forward McKinley Tennyson Jr.,
who is third in the nation in goals per game with 1.2. Senior
midfielder Shaun Tsakiris also has an interest in statistics this
weekend because he is one assist short of passing Ante Razov for
eighth on the all-time UCLA list.

On Sunday the Bruins do battle with the Oregon State Beavers.
While the Beavers (6-6-1, 0-2-1) have fared better than Cal this
season, they are still looking to break into the upper echelon of
the Pac-10 teams. They have had success this year with freshman
goalie Peter Billmeyer sporting a 0.92 goals per game average. Matt
Olsen and James Albert lead the attack on offense.

UCLA will look to shut the Beavers down on the offensive side of
the ball with freshman goalie DJ Countess stopping the OSU attack.
Last week the Bruins demolished the Beavers 4-1 on home turf,
setting up this weekend’s rematch. If the Bruins can create
the scoring opportunities like they did at Drake Stadium and are
able to stymie the Beavers on the defense side, they will likely
return home unscathed.

Notes compiled by Jim Guthrie, Daily Bruin Contributor.