This post was updated Oct. 3 at 9:37 p.m.

Coach Ryan Jorden has a definite leading goal scorer for the second time in his five-season tenure.

A graduate student transfer from Lehigh, forward Jack Sarkos is one goal away from surpassing his single season total as a Mountain Hawk.

But UCLA men’s soccer should be wary of relying on just one key scorer – a strategy that has traditionally proved unsuccessful for Jorden and the rest of the Pac-12 and could lead to the team’s forever spot in the conference looking less than appeasing.

When Jorden took over the program in 2019, then-junior forward Milan Iloski scored 17 goals through 18 games, including five against a San Diego State squad that ended the season at the bottom of the Pac-12 with a meager three points. Iloski was the only rostered forward to score across the entire season.

The rest of the team only managed to put in 12 combined goals, losing both games Iloski didn’t appear in by an aggregate 5-1 score and finishing fifth in the conference – just ahead of SDSU.

So at the end of the day, Iloski’s impressive statistical season amounted to nothing more than some fun celebrations for the Bruins.

Jorden’s teams have improved fairly steadily over the years, making the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2021 and the third round last season. Both of those teams had players tied for the goal-scoring lead at six and four, respectively.

This season, Sarkos has seven goals through eight games, finding the back of the net in five of them. But neither of the team’s two losses this season – at James Madison and Cal State Fullerton – saw a Sarkos goal, highlighting what the Bruins would look like if he were to get injured or simply not play well one night.

Sarkos’ results have been monumental and at times necessary for the Bruins as 13 of his 22 shots have been on goal, with a 59.1% clip second only to sophomore midfielder Tarun Karumanchi’s 100% on-frame rate – albeit from just four shots. Of those 13 shots on goal, Sarkos has buried 54.5% of them, the best among any Bruin starter.

Sarkos is far and away his team’s most reliable goal scorer.

But the Bruins’ reliance on their new forward spells trouble for when he isn’t available.

In the 60th minute of Thursday’s game against No. 6 Stanford, Sarkos went down with an ankle injury after earning a foul in the offensive third and was subbed out a minute later. He then sat on the bench for the first 30 minutes of Sunday’s game.

After the game, Jorden said Sarkos was held out at the start to give the medical team the time they needed to evaluate whether he would further his injury by playing. Before Sarkos came in, the Bruins took five shots on goal, four of which were sent to the same part of the frame.

With Pac-12 play kicking off last weekend, the importance of other goal scorers establishing themselves will only grow, as the Bruins’ stated goal for the season is to win the Pac-12. Last year’s winner was second in the conference in individual players with goals, a statistic UCLA is currently tied for last in at sixth.

With Sarkos’ current production, the team is on pace for 38.25 goals on the season, while Sarkos is on pace for 14.88. But without future Sarkos production, the Bruins are only on pace for approximately 30 goals on the season. The last two years’ winners and runners-up of the Pac-12 all scored 40-plus goals, so with the way other teams are playing so far this year, 30 simply won’t be good enough. It’s not even clear that 38 will be, either.

And despite taking the most shots on goal, UCLA only narrowly leads Stanford by .03 goals per game for second in the Pac-12.

In short, they need to convert more of their on-target shots into actual goals.

There are certainly potential options for this team to expand the ranks of high scorers.

Ryan Becher is a distinct possibility, as the graduate student midfielder earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors after putting one in against both Stanford and California. Becher scored 13 goals last season for UMBC, alongside 10 assists, and as he gets more adjusted to Westwood, he should see more opportunities in front of the net.

Senior forward Andre Ochoa – who can play every position across the front four – should add more to his total of two as the season continues, as should captain and redshirt senior midfielder Tucker Lepley, who scored from outside the box against Cal after a brilliant dribble through the middle of the pitch.

No matter who it is, the Bruins need someone to step up behind Sarkos and take more goal-scoring responsibility, as well as for the defenders to get involved on corners and set pieces.

If they want to leave the Pac-12 swinging, the Bruins need to find a way to begin sharing the wealth.