This post was updated Sept. 7 at 7:11 p.m.

You react.

Or you adapt.

No. 12 UCLA men’s soccer (3-0-2) chose the latter as it defeated Omaha (2-1-2) by a score of 2-1 Sunday night at Wallis Annenberg Stadium, following a 90-minute rain delay and a 1-0 halftime deficit. The Bruins’ victory preserved their undefeated record heading into conference play Friday.

Hours of rainfall leading up to the match left the field conditions unplayable, forcing continuous delays and leaving ambiguity about whether and when the Bruins would play.

While the delayed start impacted the players’ warmup time and desired routines, potentially affecting their physical readiness for the game, fifth-year forward Cameron Arnold said it also influenced the team’s mental preparedness.

“It’s the mental part, just because we haven’t warmed up yet. We haven’t done anything,” Arnold said. “You wait, but you have no idea when it starts. In this case, it was the next one and a half hours, so that’s pretty challenging to stay locked in the whole time.”

Senior defender and team captain Tre Wright added that it was tough to keep the group on track when everyone was eager to get out there and play but also keep things rolling and get into their game-day routines.

The potential impact of the delayed start for the Bruins was on full display when Omaha took the first lead of the game, courtesy of forward Mikey Stukenholtz with 48 seconds remaining in the first half.

With less than a minute to go till intermission, midfielder Ian Silva played a left-footed through-ball to Stukenholtz – who ran in between and behind junior right back Shakir Nixon and fifth-year center back Victor Ciaurriz – and played the ball into the bottom right corner of the net in a one-on-one with sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Tiltack.

Omaha’s late goal marked yet another example of UCLA conceding at inopportune times – allowing Cal State Bakersfield to take the lead in the 72nd minute Aug. 24 and California to equalize with less than 45 seconds remaining Sept. 1.

“We fell asleep at the last minute of the first half, something we can’t do, something that we’re learning and we’re struggling with at the moment,” said coach Ryan Jorden. “We have to take our chances in the first half and take away teams’ hopes early, and we didn’t do that. And so when you don’t do that, things happen sometimes. It happened last game. The only thing we can do is put our heads down and keep responding to it.”

Despite conceding right before the half, Arnold said the Bruins came into the break with the belief they were still going to win. He also said everyone’s spirits were high, and they just had to fix some things technically.

And UCLA proved to adapt once again, coming out of halftime looking like a different team. The Bruins notched five more corners and six more shots than Omaha in the second half alone.

“If you look at the shot totals, we obviously created at a rate significantly better than the opponent, and that doesn’t count all the time you’re in their box and have opportunities with balls banging around,” Jorden said. “Being down 1-0 at halftime and knowing that’s 100% on us not doing a good job in a moment – that’s frustrating.”

The Bruins’ attack finally broke through in the 65th minute, when junior defender David de la Vibora took the left sideline and whipped the ball into the top of the six-yard box, finding Arnold on the near post side.

And all it took was an outside-footed flick from the former James Madison player to net his first goal as a Bruin.

“Honestly, I don’t even remember that much. I just saw de la (Vibora) on the wing, looking up, and I was like, ‘All right, I just run close to what we do in practice and then just stick my foot somewhere in there, and hopefully it goes in,’ which I was lucky enough to finally do. It’s been a long time coming.”

Arnold said it felt relieving to notch his first goal of the season and bring back the “striker’s luck” after being injured in the spring.

The assist from de la Vibora also marked his first of the season and a connection between two players that faced off at different schools last season, with Arnold at JMU and the former at Marshall.

“You get to basically just give him the ball, and you wait for him to make a move and then just look that you’re somewhere in the right spot. It’s amazing what he’s doing,” Arnold said. “Obviously he played great at Marshall, and last year I played against him, and now I’m lucky to play with him.”

De la Vibora’s impact extended beyond just his assist to Arnold. In the 80th minute, after a corner kick, the ball landed at his feet in front of the goal. Before getting the opportunity to take a shot on goal, he was taken down by an Omaha defender, leading to a penalty kick.

And after Nixon slotted it into the bottom right of the net – his second penalty kick conversion of the season – and followed it up with a headfirst diving celebration into the corner flag, the 2-1 lead with less than 10 minutes to go virtually sealed the Mavericks’ fate.

The Bruins’ victory marked the third time of the season equalizing or taking the lead in the final third of a game – signifying the Bruins’ ability to rally but also a potential warning sign to their inability to start off strong.

“You’re really proud of your guys for fighting back,” Jorden said. “This wasn’t easy against a good team that was undefeated before they played here tonight. So I’m proud of them, but also there’s a reality check on – ‘How do you not find yourself behind?’ – because it’s hard to chase games.”