Perfect penalty kick promises UCLA place in Pac-10 runnings

UCLA ties Stanford 0-0 UCLA d.
Cal 1-0

By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

There’s something to be said for desperation.

After a scoreless tie at No. 3 Stanford on Friday, the UCLA
men’s soccer team kept its playoff hopes alive Sunday when
Ryan Futagaki scored on a penalty kick in overtime to defeat
Cal.

“We felt we absolutely needed to win at Cal,” UCLA
head coach Todd Saldaña said. “I think we felt that for
the playoffs and to keep our opportunity to win the Pac-10 alive,
we had to win today, and the guys knew that.”

The Bruins (8-6-4, 3-2-1 Pac-10) put constant pressure on the
Bears, but couldn’t capitalize in regulation. Just like their
two previous games against then No. 17 South Carolina and Stanford,
UCLA was headed to overtime deadlocked at zero.

Drained from the all-out effort put forth only two days earlier
in Palo Alto, the Bruins got their opportunity in the 99th
minute.

As junior forward Tim Pierce and Futagaki combined on a quick
1-2, the Cal defense was left with no option but to pull down the
UCLA midfielder.

Futagaki, who already had one successful penalty kick to his
credit this season, immediately stepped into the box.

“It’s important that the guy that takes it has the
confidence to take it,” Saldaña said. “And he goes
straight for the ball when there’s a PK call.”

With little hesitation, Futagaki delivered a near-perfect
penalty kick, depositing the ball in the upper left corner. Cal
goalkeeper Josh Saunders never really had a chance.

“It was kind of a tough break on the penalty in overtime
against us, but that’s part of the game,” Cal head
coach Kevin Grimes said in a post-game statement.

Cal (9-6-1, 2-3) was outplayed throughout the game by UCLA,
according to Saldaña. So when the Bruins managed to go into
overtime, the feeling around the team was more of relief rather
than jubilation.

“As much as we want to be really pleased and happy with
beating Cal, I think we’re satisfied with the win but the
guys are disappointed that it had to go to overtime,”
Saldaña said. Friday’s game at Stanford was a rematch of
the Cardinal’s 2-1 loss in Westwood ““ their only
blemish to an otherwise perfect record. Weather was forseen as a
possible factor by Saldaña, but his fears were quenched as the
game was played on a “nice, cool night.”

Both teams came out on the attack. While UCLA had making the
playoffs on its mind, Stanford (13-1-1, 3-1-1) looked to fine tune
its game while trying to maintain the conference lead.

“I thought we played well tonight,” Stanford head
coach Bret Simon said in a post-game statement. “The
important thing is that we’re still in a good position in the
conference and our intensity level was at a peak in tonight’s
game.”

A tightly contested regulation period led to a frantic overtime,
where multiple scoring chances by the Cardinal either sailed wide
or hit the crossbar and goalposts.

In the end, neither team cracked the scoreboard and UCLA came
out with the very least they could’ve hoped for ““ a
road tie against a top-tier team certainly looks favorably to the
selection committee.

“Beating Stanford would’ve been huge, but
you’re also talking about one of the top three teams,”
Saldaña said. “Getting a tie up there against a team
that has been blowing everybody out and a win against Cal for us
right now feels like we’re still on track to make the
playoffs if we have a good weekend.”

Now the Bruins must regroup and concentrate on their home games
against Washington and Oregon State, teams that only two weeks
swept the Bruins by an aggregate score of 4-1 on the road.

Another loss to either of those teams would probably negate any
chance at the playoffs and render the tie at Stanford and win at
Cal meaningless.