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Men's soccer team set for rematch against Stanford and Cal

Freshman Victor Chavez and the No. 11 Bruins will attempt to finish the last homestand of the regular season with two wins this weekend.

Men’s Soccer
Stanford
Today, 7 p.m.
Drake Stadium
Follow GameTracker on uclabruins.com

California
Sunday, 2 p.m.
Drake Stadium

No. 11 UCLA begins a weekend homestand against Stanford and Cal in matchups between the top three Pac-10 teams.

By Amy Le

Oct. 22, 2010 1:24 a.m.

The UCLA men’s soccer team returned home from last weekend’s road trip with mixed emotions, having gone through a season’s worth of highs and lows over a span of just three days.

The low came after yet another loss to Stanford in Palo Alto, dragging on a streak that has lasted since 2005. The Bruins fell 2-1 to the Cardinal, after Stanford sophomore midfielder Dersu Abolfathi scored the game winner in the 85th minute.

On the bright side, the high came just two days later, when the Bruins stepped up to the challenge of playing conference leader California and pulled out a 1-0 victory in double overtime.

Freshman midfielder Kelyn Rowe scored the game-winning goal in the 105th minute, continuing his hot streak. Rowe has scored the only goal for the Bruins in the last three matches, with two of them being game-winners.

The No. 11 Bruins (9-3-1, 4-1-0 Pac-10) have a shot at redemption this weekend, as they host Stanford (7-6-0, 3-2-0) today and No. 12 Cal (8-2-2, 4-1-0) on Sunday.

The Bruins are currently tied for first in the Pac-10 with Cal, and UCLA coach Jorge Salcedo knows that his team understands the importance of these games and how they could affect the chase for the conference championship.

“It’s a huge weekend again because we are at the halfway point,” Salcedo said. “The fact that we lost to Stanford means that we’re going to be really motivated (tonight). Winning … becomes crucial to the Pac-10 title and come Sunday, we’ll see what happens.”

The Bruins will certainly look to utilize their home field advantage, as they remain undefeated at Drake Stadium this season. Along with defending their home turf, the team still has revenge on their mind.

“The game … is one, just to redeem ourselves last weekend, and two, because we can’t lose another game,” sophomore midfielder Ryan Hollingshead said. “We can’t lose another game. This weekend is going to be big for us; if we can get out of the weekend with two wins, we’ll set ourselves up really well for the Pac-10 (title).”

Having just played these two opponents a mere week ago, UCLA still relishes every opportunity to match up against its Pac-10 conference rivals.

“Stanford always has had a really great program and Cal always has a tough program,” junior defender Andy Rose said. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve always had really good matches with both of them. Both teams are going to be tough, but they’re definitely two of my favorite teams just because they mean so much to the Pac-10.”

With reports from Chris Chen, Bruin Sports reporter.

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