Men’s soccer defense falters to CSUN in 2-1 loss following a comeback win to Omaha
Freshman midfielder Matthew Hundley scored UCLA men’s soccer’s only goal in the 2-1 loss to Cal State Northridge on Sunday night. Hundley has three goals and three assists on the season. (Isa Saalabi/Daily Bruin)
By Sam Connon
Sept. 16, 2018 11:49 p.m.
After a second-half comeback Wednesday, the Bruins were unable to repeat the magic Sunday night.
No. 11 UCLA men’s soccer (4-2) beat Omaha 2-1 (1-4) but lost to Cal State Northridge 2-1 (6-2) in its final homestand before conference play.
The Bruins came back and beat the Mavericks after falling behind 1-0 in the 54th minute. UCLA outshot Omaha 21-3 and had nine more corners, but the Bruins were still unable to execute in the first half.
“Even though we got the win, we had some moments that weren’t like us,” said senior defender Erik Holt.
Sophomore forward Santiago Herrera buried a rebound in the back of the net in the 65th minute to knot the score at one. The Bruins had a corner 11 minutes later that redshirt junior defender Matthew Powell headed in to give his team the lead.
Both Bruin goals were assisted by freshman midfielder Matt Hundley, his second and third assists of the season.
Senior goalkeeper Cole Martinez got the start in net against Omaha, but he was unable to record a save. Martinez had four saves coming into the match, and he escaped with his third win of the year.
UCLA, however, could not get the win Sunday night after blowing a 1-0 lead in the second half to CSUN.
Neither squad recorded a shot until Herrera sent one toward the bottom left corner of the net in the 19th minute, but CSUN goalkeeper Henrik Regitnig stopped the ball in its tracks.
Hundley got his jersey pulled at midfield but he held control and was able to get a shot off. The shot missed wide right, but Hundley got another opportunity less than two minutes later.
The freshman juked around his defender in the box, but after being tripped was awarded a penalty kick that he buried to give the Bruins an early 1-0 lead. Hundley said that his teammates’ positioning in the midfield opened up space for him in the first half.
“As soon as we get our possession going in the midfield, and we have (Holt) and (senior midfielder) Anderson (Asiedu) receiving the balls a lot, they attract a lot of attention,” Hundley said. “When they can find me in those empty pockets that I check into, that’s what creates the space.”
But the tides turned in the second half as the Matadors scored twice in just more than five minutes to go up 2-1. Holt said his defense started allowing too many rebounds, and he had some advice for his teammates for how to fix the issue.
“Don’t even let the shot off in the first place,” Holt said. “(We have to) get back to who we are as a team.”
UCLA had a chance to tie the game in the 77th minute when leading scorer junior forward Mohammed Kamara – who subbed in at the start of the second half – got a penalty kick opportunity, but the striker missed the net.
“It isn’t ‘You do well for 45 minutes and win a soccer game’,” said coach Jorge Salcedo. “You have to be the better team over 90 minutes and there was about a 20, 25 minute stretch in the second half where they took it to us, and we didn’t respond the right way.”
Kamara picked up a yellow card in the 90th minute on a physical and chippy final run by the Bruins that ended without a game-tying goal.
Salcedo turned to freshman goalkeeper Justin Garces against CSUN, and while he recorded three saves, a hectic second half with nine shots faced led to his second loss of the season.
The Bruins have a road matchup against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. – their last out-of-conference game remaining before Pac-12 play.
