Men’s soccer expects tough game at UCSB
By Daily Bruin Staff
Sept. 27, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 Daily Bruin File Photo Sophomore Adolfo
Gregorio stops the ball in front of an opponent in a game
last season.
By Jon Corwin
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Bruins will be looking to jumpstart their up-and-down season
with a pair of games this weekend.
The Bruins (3-2-1) travel up the coast Friday to face the
Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara. Always tough at home, UCSB (4-2) is
coming off a 3-1 loss to San Jose State, their first home loss of
the season.
The Gauchos are led by standout freshman goalkeeper Dan Kennedy,
who allowed just two goals in the first five games, and has posted
three shutouts already this season. Junior forward Rob Friend, a
member of the Canadian National Team, has compiled two goals and
six points this season for UCSB. He was named Big West Player of
the Week earlier in the year.
“UCSB had a very good recruiting class, and they are
expecting a big crowd for Friday’s game,” UCLA head
coach Todd Saldaña said. “I expect them to play us very
tough.”
The Bruins will be led by junior forward Tim Pierce, who has
emerged as a potent offensive weapon this season. Pierce leads the
team with four goals, two of which were game winners. Earlier in
the season he was named Pac-10 Player of the Week and was the
tournament MVP at the USF Diadora Classic.
“Tim has really stepped up for us this year and shown what
he is capable of doing,” Saldaña said.
On Sunday, UCLA returns home to face Loyola Marymount, led by
junior forward Arturo Torres, the 2000 West Coast Conference Player
of the Year and MVP of the LMU Classic this past weekend. The
Lions (4-3) won the Classic with victories over UC Irvine and No.
18 Harvard. The Lions have a four-game winning streak heading into
this Friday’s contest versus Cal State Los Angeles.
LMU is coached by former UCLA soccer star Paul Krumpe, who
replaced Saldaña, who coached the Lions in 1997.
This weekend is a critical one for the Bruins, with a good
opportunity to pick up a pair of victories against two programs
that are generally considered weaker than UCLA. But no one is
looking past UCSB or LMU, especially after the team’s loss to
UCI last week, its first loss to Irvine in seven years.
“There are no such things as easy games,” junior
midfielder Ryan Futagaki said. “Both games are going to be a
battle.”
This seems to be the attitude of the entire team.
“Both programs are up-and-coming,” Pierce said.
“We are not looking past anyone on our schedule.”
