Not so timid
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 9, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Tim Pierce
works the ball in preparation for the soccer season that will prove
to be a challenge.
By Jon Corwin
Daily Bruin Contributor
He certainly doesn’t lack confidence. You might even call
him cocky. But there is good reason for 21-year-old junior forward
Tim Pierce to feel good about the progress he has made since coming
to UCLA as a freshman over three years ago.
Pierce has gone from a quiet, redshirt freshman to a relentless,
hard-working starting forward who leads the UCLA men’s soccer
team in scoring.
Heavily recruited four years ago out of Santa Margarita High
School in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., Pierce had a lot of
options when looking at colleges. But ever since he used to make
the short trip up the coast to watch UCLA soccer games as a little
kid, Pierce knew that he wanted to play for the Bruins.
“This place has a great tradition,” Pierce said.
“I knew it would be tough coming in here my first year and
not being able to get out on the field, but it was just a matter of
time.”
The list of high school soccer achievements goes on and on for
Pierce: two-time All-League performer; First-Team All-County;
single-season record holder for most points in a season with 57 (22
goals, 13 assists) his senior year.
But that was nearly four years ago. Pierce has come a long way
from high school, and the road wasn’t always easy.
After redshirting as a freshman under then-coach Sigi Schmid,
Pierce played in only 11 games his second season, failing to score
a point. But his work ethic and talent did not go unnoticed.
He was named the team’s most improved player in 1999, making
his first career start against Virginia. The next year, Pierce
tallied the first and only goal of his career, prior to this
year.
“I was more of a worker than a goal scorer early
on,” Pierce said. “I just did what I could to help the
team.”
He is described by junior midfielder Ryan Futagaki as sarcastic,
and quite a character. But Futagaki realizes how much his roommate
has grown as a player.
“He has that confidence that you need to succeed,”
Futagaki said. “It is good to see his work pay off for
him.”
Pierce has been known to occasionally play down the fact that he
has one of the strongest legs on the squad.
“He’ll say stuff like, “˜My leg isn’t
that buff,’ when he is really trying to show the team how
strong a leg he has,” Futagaki said.
It is a source of comedy for much of the team.
“We call him “˜Quadzilla,'” junior
defenseman and good friend Chadd Davis said. “Tim is
definitely one of the more likeable guys on the team.”
He has started seven of 10 games this year, amassing 27 shots on
goal. Pierce heads into this weekend’s action with a team
leading four goals, having already surpassed his previous career
point total of two. He was named Pac-10 Player of the Week earlier
in the season, and has led an offense that is putting a lot of
shots on goal, despite being shut out four of the last six
games.
With the team struggling to find any offensive rhythm early on
in the season, Pierce will be counted on to continue his hot start
and provide some much-needed offensive firepower for the
Bruins.
“Tim has improved a lot as a player,” head coach
Todd Saldaña said. “He is a big part of this
team.”
