This post was updated March 13 at 12:29 a.m.

Tucker Lepley joins an elite group of Bruins who have won the MLS Cup.

And he did it in record time.

The former Bruin won the MLS Cup in his first year out of a UCLA uniform.

Lepley was drafted by the LA Galaxy in the third round of the 2024 MLS SuperDraft following four seasons in Westwood.

As a member of UCLA men’s soccer, Lepley – the team captain in 2023 – recorded 12 goals and 10 assists through 46 games played and 42 starts.

Lepley spoke with Daily Bruin Sports senior staff writer Felicia Keller ahead of his second professional season about his UCLA and Galaxy experiences.

Daily Bruin: You got drafted in the third round by the Galaxy. What was that transition like for you, from college to professional?

Tucker Lepley: For me, professional was always my dream. It’s what I always aspired to be, was a professional soccer player, and so when I had the opportunity after UCLA, and the Galaxy took a chance on me and drafting me, I knew that I put my head down and work – that I would have the opportunity to earn a contract and everything. I can’t say it was all the smoothest in terms of learning how to be a pro. So my first year in that transition was definitely just learning how to be a pro, take care of my body, take care of myself, take care of bills, everything in between. But I feel like I flowed really easily, and once I got over that, it was all about just playing and performing.

DB: Is there any (UCLA men’s soccer coach) Ryan Jorden wisdom that he gave you, or any teammate support that you got?

TL: Coach Jorden was always super honest and open with me, and that’s something to this day I’m thankful for. If he saw something in my game I needed to improve or things that I was good at, he always let me know and just tried to help me grow as a player on the field. Off the field, he always challenged me to pursue opportunities, to do well in the classroom and set up my life moving forward. And he was just as happy as I was when I was drafted by the Galaxy. And for my teammates, those guys become a family. We’re all going through the same things as a team, and you start to create a culture, and those are the guys you spend almost every single day with. And I would like to think that they were all super proud and happy for me as well.

DB: You came back and did some announcing for the Big Ten Network in the fall. What was that experience like, and did anyone have any messages for you then?

TL: I’ve always loved soccer, even just watching it, and I thought it would be a cool opportunity to come back and do that – to do it and be able to commentate my friends, because I was already coming back to the UCLA games to watch and support them. So having that opportunity and see the game through a different lens and put my creative spin on it was really fun and something I would look forward to doing more of when the opportunities are right. That was a really unique and cool experience. And I’m thankful to the athletics program and everybody for giving me a chance to come back and do that.

DB: Transitioning a little bit to the rookie season, what was that like for you, and do you have a favorite memory from the season other than, obviously, winning MLS Cup?

TL: My rookie year was amazing. It was everything I could have hoped for. For me, it was about working as hard as I possibly can every day and not taking anything for granted in this profession. It’s my dream job and just to be as present as I could. There were hard days, there were less hard days, and I had some good moments along the way, which have really set me up for things moving forward this year. But I would say my favorite moment would have to be either my first professional goal that I had with the second team, or my first start in MLS was pretty surreal too.

DB: Transitioning to the MLS Cup win, can you tell me what that experience was like, what that day and that game was like for you?

TL: For me, that day is hard to put into words and to describe that feeling of achieving a goal that the team sets out. The beginning of the year, you start off as strangers with these guys, and you turn into teammates, you turn into friends, and by the end, we became a family. And to see the joy and the reward on everybody’s face when you accomplish that was something I’ll never forget. Here we have a culture where everybody wants to see everybody succeed. And when I saw the joy on my teammates’ faces and the coaches and the front office for a year of hard work to arrive in that moment was something I’ll never forget.

DB: Do you have some favorite thing that you got to do with MLS Cup, some celebration that sticks out to you?

TL: I took pictures with my closest teammates in the locker room, and then I was able to come back to the UCLA basketball game last week and get celebrated for that achievement and bring the trophy on the court, which is really cool – probably one of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do in my life.

DB: You join a long line of former Bruins to win MLS Cup. Are there any emotions in joining some of those big names?

TL: We all have a goal to leave a legacy and to inspire the next generation of Bruins. I hope that my teammates can look to me and see that it’s possible and that there’s no set route to achieving your dream of being a professional or lifting trophies. So to step into that category, it puts into perspective how truly special these moments are and to not take them for granted. If you look at the players from UCLA who have won MLS Cup, the names are unbelievable. So for me to find myself in that list after my rookie year is an honor, and hopefully I’ll be able to add more to it.

DB: What would you say is the hardest part of a deep playoff run? And is there anything that you learned from your guys’ runs in the NCAA tournament that you might have taken with you there?

TL: I would say the NCAA Tournament and MLS playoffs are quite different. You know, when you’re in college, you might be on the road, and then you don’t even know who your next opponent is. You’re trying to figure out what homework you have to do and all that. So it’s a complete roller coaster of your life going coast to coast once, twice a week. We felt that my second year, my second season, where we won on a Thursday and flew to Clemson to play on a Sunday and then flew back to Vermont on Thanksgiving. So it was just all over the place. And in the MLS, it was pretty straightforward. This is who we’re playing. This is how we’re going to prepare for them. You have a week to learn how you’re going to go after your opponent and how you can expose them and come up with a game plan. And from there, it’s just executing. And for us, it was staying in it mentally as the season gets longer. It can become tiring, mentally, physically and everything. And the team was able to stay strong through that, and we definitely reaped the reward for that mental fortitude.

DB: I assume there’s probably a lot of things you’ve learned in the last year, but is there one specific thing that you think has been really important that you’ve learned during your rookie season?

TL: To learn as much as possible, to take any information that you can and from anybody who has been doing this for a while, and apply it and use it and soak everything you can up while also being yourself. It’s super important to stay true to yourself and the person you are because ultimately, that’s when you’re your happiest. And I feel like you’re playing your best is when you’re just learning and staying true to you.