Men’s soccer shut out by No. 1 Washington for second time this season

In the 66th minute, the Huskies sent a long ball into the open right side of the Bruin defense.

Giving chase, junior midfielder Eric Iloski closed in on Washington midfielder Lucas Meek. Meek hit a left-footed cross that took a deflection and found his teammate midfielder Blake Bodily, who stabbed the ball across the UCLA’s goal line.

The Bruins’ defense – which had managed to keep the No. 1-ranked team off the score board for over two-thirds of the game – had finally broken.

The 1-0 score would hold until the end of regulation, as UCLA men’s soccer (5-7-2, 1-4-1 Pac-12) was shut out by Washington (13-1-0, 6-0-0) for the second time this season. The Bruins had previously fallen 5-0 to the Huskies in Seattle on Sept. 22, after allowing a goal within the opening minute.

“We know that (Washington) is probably the best team we’ve played this year,” said coach Ryan Jorden. “Unfortunately, we conceded and they can sit and manage the game a little bit better and now you got to try and break them down. But the difference between winning and losing by one goal is you have to take the chance, and we were unable to do that tonight.”

The Bruins had the first chance of the night, as junior midfielder Marcony Pimentel’s left-footed shot trickled wide right of goal. Through the first half, UCLA would only tally two shots, the other coming via redshirt senior forward Blayne Martinez.

“I thought the spaces were there,” Martinez said. “We were hitting some good balls in behind, we had a couple combinations in the middle and that’s exactly what we’re looking for. I thought in the first minute of the game, we had a really good chance, and if we put that away, I think it’s a completely different game.”

At the start of the second half, the Bruins recorded the first two shots, but both attempts by Pimentel were off target. After yet another shot by Pimentel in the 62nd minute, both teams went quiet until the Huskies struck with their go-ahead goal.

“We had a little bit of a mental lapse, and that’s how goals get scored,” Martinez said. “You can’t have those, those are unacceptable, and to be a top-class team, like the first in the country, they don’t make those mistakes, and they put away their chances.”

After Washington took the lead, UCLA was dealt another blow, as redshirt sophomore defender Eirik Baekkelund received a red card for using his boot to tap Meek, who was already down. Down a man, however, the Bruins still managed to tally one more shot attempt.

“When you’re playing a man down and you’re chasing the game, you have to play a high tempo,” Jorden said. “You have to try and press the issue, but you’re going to expose yourself in the process, and for being a man down, we created a couple opportunities for us to score goals.”

Arguably, the Bruins best chance came in the 78th minute, via a shot by junior forward Milan Iloski. That attempt was UCLA’s lone shot on goal, and was saved by Washington goalkeeper Bryce Logan.

The Bruins didn’t record another chance in the final 10 minutes. With the defeat, UCLA will have to avoid losing more than one of its next four games to be eligible for an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament come November.

“Bottom line, you have to get a result,” Jorden said. “Now, we’re in a situation where we need to get the next couple of results here. Our guys know it, so you just got to get it done.”