Saturday, September 6th, 2008

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Tim Pierce, who leads the team in goals with ten, battles for the ball with a San Diego State University player.

Tim Pierce, who leads the team in goals with ten, battles for the ball with a San Diego State University player.

Men’s soccer motivated for LMU playoff game

The day the UCLA men’s soccer team has been waiting for has finally arrived. The team will play its first postseason match tonight at home against Loyola Marymount.

“We feel good, we’re really excited that the playoffs are here,” freshman midfielder Eli Meschures said.

While this is UCLA’s first playoff game, it will be the second for the Lions.

The No. 3 seeded Bruins (13-3-3) had a first-round bye while LMU (15-3-2) played Cal State Northridge on Saturday in the first round, and beat them 1-0.

Earlier this season, the Lions beat the Bruins 2-0.

However, the Bruins feel they are a much different team than the one that lost to LMU.

“We weren’t as motivated to play them last time because we hadn’t lost yet,” senior forward Tim Pierce said. “We’re motivated now.”

Since that game, UCLA has gone 9-2-3, won the Pac-10 title, and wrapped up the No. 3 seed in the College Cup, ensuring themselves of home matches up until the Final Four.

On the other hand, LMU hasn’t beaten a single ranked opponent since that game.

“We have a chance to redeem ourselves,” UCLA head coach Tom Fitzgerald said. “We don’t need much outside inspiration.”

In that early season game, the Bruins were held scoreless, and the Lions’ Yuji Teranishi and Michael Erush both tallied goals.

“We know how they play now, and we’re not too worried about them,” Meschures said.

While the two teams may not be evenly matched now, the better team doesn’t always win in soccer. The UCLA women’s soccer game outshot Texas A&M 21-0 in their third-round match on Saturday, but the Aggies won the game 0-0 (3-1 penalty kicks).

“Strange things can happen in the playoffs,” Fitzgerald said.

One factor that may help the Bruins tonight is the time off they have had since their last game. The Bruins haven’t played in ten days, while the Lions just played a close, grueling playoff matchup on Saturday.

Also, midfielder/defender Jordan Harvey will be back for the Bruins. Harvey missed four games because he was playing for the U.S. Under-20 National Team at the 2003 World Youth Championships.

If the Bruins win tonight, their next game will be on Saturday, at Drake Stadium, 7 p.m., against the winner of Cal and UCSB.