The games should all be on the North Athletic Field. Drake is a horrible spectating venue. And I say that as a UCLA fan.
San Diego outshot UCLA by 14-8, but the Bruins won 1-0 in OT. Is it safe to say that they've overcome their slow start?
I watched some of th USD game on the feed. The Torreros should be completely embarrassed by the condition of that pitch. UCLA should tell them "no mas" on this series if they can't do better than that.
The USD field is way overbooked: men's soccer, women's soccer, and football all played on the same field. The pitch looked great about a month ago... Speaking as a Toreros fan, I thought the Bruins looked flat and perhaps fatigued after their Santa Barbara game. Last evening's game was strange, with little intensity despite a decent crowd and the game's importance to both teams. The Toreros outplayed the Bruins for 90 minutes, but couldn't finish. That's soccer for you. Must admit, though, the winning goal by Rowe was a screamer.
I saw the feed too! Too bad UCSB doesn't have to travel to to USD for their match this weekend ....then Loco's would have a real reason to bitch about the pitch conditions. Sad that the USD kids don't have a dedicated soccer pitch to compete on. The conditions of that field looked horrible on the feed. I am sure it was even worse to play on.
Chandler Hoffman 3 - UCSB 2 Great effort by Mr.Hoffman, very deserving of his spot on TopDrawer's Team of the week - Men's Team of the Week
http://www.soccernation.com/ucla-dreamin-soccer-comes-true-cms-1733 LOL. It is so freaking easy to recruit at UCLA. Salcedo didn't even recruit Hoffman... Hoffman was the one who contacted UCLA. What a freaking joke. Salcedo really has no excuse not to make a deep run in the ncaa tournament this year. Hopefully the win streak continues this weekend. Go Bruins.
Great weekend for UCLA sports in general (7-0 so far), including Friday's 2-1 victory over Seattle University. Goals by Hoffman and Kelyn Rowe. While I expected us to beat Seattle, I wasn't expecting to draw an attendance of 2350. Good numbers considering the Den Game of the Week (Women's volleyball vs. Stanford) overlapped and drew 2100-plus of its own. Now if we can just get the crowd to be louder we would be making some progress. Go Bruins!
Were u there to support the team you profess to love? Or are you just a bandwagoner that reads game recaps or summaries and deduce that it is all Salcedo's fault? I made the trip to LA this weekend, and witnessed the weekend's matches. If you can't offer anything other than your hate for Salcedo, may I suggest you take your "trollisms" elsewhere? On this particular play the Bruins were unlucky - the free kick was well defended. Unfortunately, the kick caromed off a player, and that deflection changed the direction of the ball enough to not allow GK Rowe to make the play. Second goal occurred when Wiet, arguably the Bruins best defender, went off with a laceration necessitating a positional change in moving Rose to the back line. If I had any criticism, that move (having Rose vacate the D-mid position to drop into the CB role) wasn't the best of decisions as Raynr filled the spot where Rose vacated. Not so coincidentally, the breakdown that resulted in the second of SMU's goals occurred when Raynr was stripped of the ball within minutes after the change. No excuse for not taking advantage of SMU playing a man down though and at least getting the equalizer. I think that has more to do with the system or constraints they players are playing with. The Bruin team's sense of urgency and tempo is way off for this fan's liking.
Thanks for the report on the details. I saw a couple of early UCLA games (Louisville on line and Santa Clara live) and the urgency problem you mention was evident then too. Was wondering if they had fixed that since they had been winning more lately. They also seemed disorganized defensively back then without a strong sense of how they should build attacks from the back.
I live in the Bay Area so it's kind of hard for me to watch the home matches in person but I attend all of their Bay Area away matches. I have been following Bruins soccer since I was a freshman at UCLA in 2001. I still have my 2002 national champions shirt and wear it with pride. Nothing wrong with us having different opinions re: Salcedo. If you think Salcedo should stay then explain your reasons why you disagree as opposed to name-calling. No need to be uncivil. FYI, I am one of the few people on the SJ boards who sticks up for Frank Yallop against all the "sack the coach" people. The difference I see here is that Yallop coaches a team with the second lowest payroll in MLS... whereas Salcedo coaches at one of the most prestigious soccer programs in the country. The expectations are rightfully a lot different for the two of them.
Interesting that he picked UCLA over Maryland. Figure if Sasho wanted the kid , he would win out (especially with the success Maryland has had) but UCLA sells itself. Too bad Maryland and UCLA stopped the home and home series. That was a good one. Maybe they'll pick it up again. Tman.
Just beat Cal 1-0. Garbage goal was scored by Andy Rose in post-corner kick chaos. He may have been offsides, but the goal was counted so whatever. Attendance was a strong 2105. They had to start turning people away from the student bleachers. What is even better is that for the last 10 minutes or so people were standing and even cheering...gasp!!! Tough win, now bring on Stanford on Sunday. P.S. Women's team also won tonight. 1-0 over Oregon. I caught the second half and it didn't look like they were having their best night.
UCLA leaving surprising slow start behind them http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...cla-leaving-surprising-slow-start-behind-them Hopefully they have put the slow start behind them.
Bruins take early command of the Pac 12 table sweeping the Pacific NW schools in Washington (4-1) and Oregon State (2-1). SDSU's loss to U-Dub yesterday, sets up a great showdown match between the two teams next Sunday in Westwood. Given that both teams will be rested, and SDSU needing a win to stay in the PAC 12 title hunt, it should be an entertaining match. Watched the UCLA /U-Dub match via streaming video Friday night and despite the scoreline, the Bruins just don't look sharp to me. Maybe it's just their tactic of holding the ball in their own half for long stretches that makes for a not-so-entertaining match. In Sunday's OSU match, as has been their habit this season, the Bruins gave up yet another early goal (4th minute) off a corner before K Rowe equalized just before half. But it could of been worse as OSU outshot the Bruins 11 to 3 in the first half alone. The start of the second half was much better with the Bruins drawing even in shots at one point but still needed some last minute heroics by transfer Victor Munoz to secure the result. Bruins have now won 9 of their last ten but it appears the ever changing starting line-ups, deep and frequent substitutions along with their slow speed of play leaves little room for the team to establish any match or seasonal rhythm. If results are the benchmark, they are succeeding but you just have to wonder if this is a team that has the ability to go deep in the tournament. As big fan as I am, I haven't drank the proverbial Kool-Aid yet and am still unconvinced, despite the talent that this team has, if it is a tournament contender. I just keep waiting for this team to explode yet I am unconvinced that it will ever do so.
From what I saw of the game, I agree. UCLA's first two goals were both excellent plays, but they were brief moments of inspiration in a lackluster first half.
I can't really complain about tactics too much if we are getting results. I am fine with the more possession oriented short passing style as long as it gets results. I know this is what USMNT/MLS fans all complain about college soccer is that is a results-oriented attitude and not player-development oriented (which hurts American player development) but Akron has shown you can do both. I would also be fine with 4-4-2 longball if that achieved results. Hell, we may need to pull the 4-4-2 out with 2 defensive holding mids if we end up in a tough away match in the ncaa tournament in the snow.
I think the "tactics" of holding the ball in their own half for long stretches with no intent or urgency to get forward and put the other team under pressure is going to bite them in the *ss come tournament time (if not sooner). I watched the UW game online, and think they are getting results despite these tactics, not because of them. They are winning because their talent can rise above the lackluster cohesion as a unit. The team has improved since the beginning of the season in my view, but are still significantly underperforming.
Fwiw, I think your description hits the nail on the head. In other words, this wasn't possesssion-oriented short passing. It was simply a lack of ideas.
UCLA swept the NW teams in Washington and Oregon State on Sofia's solo goal vs. U-Dub and Monge's golden goal in the 102m vs. OSU yesterday. With Washington's 3-0 beat down of SDSU yesterday, and if my math is correct, the Bruins need but a single point in the next three games to clinch the Pac 12 (6) title. Bruins have CAL, Stanford and SDSU road games remaining.
Yes, they've already clinched at least a tie for first. They probably still need at least two more wins to get a seed.
UCLA Bruins Won the PAC 12 Conference Soccer Championship today beating CAL 2-nil. UCLA gets the auto berth into the Big Dance for the 29th consecutive year!