It was all looking good for the Bruins at halftime.

For the first time this season, the Bruins scored three goals in one game. For the first time this season, graduate student forward/midfielder Sveinn Hauksson put the ball in the back of the net. For the first time this season, the opposing team came from behind to match the Bruins.

Despite a game full of Bruin firsts, a late goal from the Wolverines in a tension-filled second half caused UCLA men’s soccer (3-2-3, 1-1-1 Big Ten) to tie Michigan (5-0-3, 1-0-2 Big Ten) 3-3.

After a slow start, Michigan defender Jason Bucknor ran onto a through ball behind graduate student defender Nicholas Cavallo and beat junior goalkeeper Sam Joseph near post in the ninth minute of the match.

Cavallo said the team’s defenders need to bring back the intensity they had to start the season, which saw them go on a three-game run of clean sheets.

“It is just a little bit of individual stuff. I lost my man on the first goal. We’re just letting guys through the cracks,” Cavallo said. “It’s about keeping up the intensity that we had to start the season, and start to bring that to the Big Ten.”

The Bruins equalized the affair through a Michigan own goal in the 22nd minute, five minutes before graduate student midfielder Edrey Caceres scored a rare “olimpico” goal – scoring directly with an inswinging corner kick – to put UCLA ahead 2-1. The goal was Caceres’ third of the season, all of them coming from set pieces.

Cavallo said he felt the team did well to get back into the game, after the Bruins failed to come back in each game they have trailed this season.

The Bruin’s lead did not last for long, as Michigan midfielder Bryce Blevins scored a near mirror image of the Wolverine’s first goal, again beating Joseph at the near post.

After a hectic first half-hour, coach Ryan Jorden rolled the dice by substituting Hauksson and sophomore defender Philip Naef up front. Jorden said he brought the players onto the pitch to give the team more direct options, with Hauksson standing at 6-foot-2.

“They gave us a little bit more verticality in some moments, and I think that showed us the ability to maybe get on the end of some things,” Jorden said. “Their (the Wolverines’) organization started to tire and spaces started to open up and we got into those spaces.”

The combination quickly yielded results with Naef crossing the ball into a physically dominant Hauksson, who slotted it into the top right corner of the Wolverine goal.

“It was really great,” Hauksson said. “It would have been better if you got the win, but it was nice to finally get on paper.”

The Bruins were productive on the offensive side of the ball, registering 11 shots and three goals – the most so far this season.

“We just continue to get better in creating opportunities,” Jorden said. “We got into dangerous places, and we were able to take chances.”

The second half saw a more hectic pace of play, with both teams missing promising chances and committing a combined 13 fouls.

In the 80th minute, Wolverine forward Beto Soto played the ball into Bucknor for his second score of the game. Although Bruins senior defender Pietro Grassi appealed for a foul, the referee gave the goal, ending the game in a tie.

Jorden said he was disappointed to concede so late in the game, after his team registered six more second-half shots than the Wolverines.

“You shouldn’t lose that game after being at 3-2 at halftime with the amount of possession that we had. We just needed to complete a pass to the back of the net to get the fourth,” Jorden said. “Everybody feels pretty rotten, because it’s a game that you should have gotten three points from, and instead you end up with a draw”

The game was also the first back in Westwood since undergraduates moved back into on-campus housing, with a season-high attendance of 1,740, in a game also attended by the UCLA marching band.

“I’ve been a little skeptic of bands in the past because I felt like they were annoying but I felt like it was great tonight,” Cavallo said.

Contributing reports by Felicia Keller, Daily Bruin senior staff.