Bruins bring in wins despite shaky season start

The UCLA men’s soccer team is optimistic about the rest of
its season, and why shouldn’t it be?

Despite what many players and coaches called a rough start, the
team won six of its seven games.

The squad, which only plays two seniors in a rotation has
included as many as nine sophomores or freshmen, has played its way
out of several close games early in the season.

Despite several players insisting they weren’t playing
traditional UCLA soccer, the team has more than just stayed afloat
thus far.

With a tough Pac-10 schedule looming, first-year head coach
Jorge Salcedo is confident his No. 12 nationally ranked team has
taken its game to the next level, finally playing 90 minutes of
good soccer.

“We’re the first people who will raise their hands
up and say we haven’t been playing great lately,”
Salcedo said. “If we continue playing like we did in the
first half (against Northridge), I’ll be happy.”

What is unusual about the Sept. 16, 3-1 Bruin win over
Northridge is that the game was scoreless at halftime. To a fan who
only saw the score, it may have seemed like the Northridge game
followed the pattern of the first four, with UCLA playing much
better in the second half.

But the Bruins were dominant that day, outshooting the Matadors
22-6, coming close on many attempts in the first half. UCLA had 19
corner kicks in the game to Northridge’s 0 ““ and
Northridge was an NCAA tournament team a year ago.

“We felt like we had an awesome first half,” UCLA
midfielder Mike Enfield said. “We knew we were scoring some
goals. The team played really well, and I hope it will continue.
We’ve gotten off to a shaky start, and we’re still
4-1.”

UCLA’s three wins before Northridge had all been close. In
their season opener, the Bruins needed two overtimes to beat
Oakland, 2-1. After a 1-0 win over UC Riverside, the Bruins needed
one goal in overtime to beat UNLV. The lone Bruin loss was to No.
11 Creighton. The 3-2 match was made close at the end when the
Bruins scored two goals in the final six minutes.

But the team feels it has put its past behind it and that the
Northridge game could be a turning point.

“A game like that builds confidence for the future ““
especially for our attacks and offense,” UCLA defender Aaron
Lopez said. “We hadn’t been scoring much lately, and
there is some satisfaction in scoring more than 1-2
goals.”

Salcedo has made one lineup decision which has made an immediate
impact ““ the move of Enfield from midfield to forward.
Enfield had played midfield for the last three years at UCLA, but
in his first game in the new position, Enfield scored two
goals.

Also, the preseason goalie controversy has been quieted for now
as Nate Pena started four of the first five games in goal for the
Bruins.

Conference play starts next weekend, and it figures to be tough
this year. All five conference teams are in the top-20 nationally
in the Soccer America poll.

“We have to fight, scrap, and do whatever it takes. We
have to keep working,” Salcedo said.