Men’s soccer allows first goal of the season in 1-0 loss to San Francisco

The Bruins entered Sunday night’s match not having allowed a goal this season.

That scoreless streak came to a close when San Francisco (2-0-1) scored what would be the difference in a 1-0 win over No. 8 UCLA men’s soccer (2-1-0).

The goal came in the 51st minute when midfielder Sean Bowman found the back of the net on a two-on-one counterattack.

“It was one of those games where one mistake cost us the game,” said coach Jorge Salcedo. “The irony was that we had two good chances in their box, and a few seconds later, the ball is in the back of our net.”

On the ensuing posession, another opportunity presented itself for the Bruins in a shot by sophomore defender Brandon Terwege that struck the crossbar on a header.

The Bruins had 18 shots on the night, including eight on goal, while the Dons took just nine shots, four of which were on goal.

“We hit the post four times and had some very very clear chances,” Salcedo said. “Obviously we had a lot of opportunities to score the first goal of the game and when we didn’t and when they scored the first goal they tried to see it out and that’s what they did.”

The Bruins’ first scoring chance came in the 15th minute when senior defender Erik Holt sent in a header from the corner, only to have it sail wide of the net.

Junior transfer forward Mohammed Kamara chipped one off the left post in the 40th minute, nearly replicating his chip shot that landed No. 2 on the SportsCenter Top 10 last week.

In total, there were 46 fouls and nine yellow cards. The Dons led with 26 total fouls, while the Bruins were responsible for the other 20.

Six yellow cards were drawn in the second half, including when USF defender Seamus McLaughlin drew a card for jersey grabbing and sophomore forward Santiago Herrera tripped McLaughlin in retaliation.

Senior midfielder Anderson Asiedu received a yellow card in the 39th minute and said the way the game was going, it was all about survival.

“I can’t just say ‘I’m going to slow the game down and slow my tempo down,'” Asiedu said. “I go with the flow to help my team so that we can get the benefit of the doubt.”

Garces makes debut

Freshman goalkeeper Justin Garces made his first collegiate start after senior Cole Martinez started the first two games.

The Atlanta United Academy product found his first opportunity in the 7th minute squaring up on a shot from Sean Bowman, and tallied three saves on the night.

“We have high expectations of him as a young goalie and we all keep pushing each other and helping each other when we are on the field,” Asiedu said. “We’re all in this together, but I thought he had a very good performance in his first start.”

Despite the loss, the Bruins matched their best start in terms of wins to a season since 2015. The next game for UCLA is an away game against Maryland on Friday at 4 p.m.

“Tonight was obviously a setback, but that’s part of the season,” Holt said. “You have some highs and some lows, but we’re looking forward to the next game and getting back to training tomorrow to get better.”