By Amanda Fletcher

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

It’s Chemistry 101 for the UCLA men’s soccer team as they attempt to blend old and new talent to form another winning season.

This week they will test themselves in two exhibition games. On Wednesday Aug. 23 the Bruins face Westmont College at Drake Stadium and then on Saturday Aug. 26 they battle Loyola Marymount University on their campus.

Though these games will not count toward their season record, the two matches will provide a litmus test for a Bruin squad that lost 10 players from last season and is looking at 11 new faces.

“We’re still in the first couple days and trying to build a little chemistry,” head coach Todd Saldaña said.

Among the 10 players who graduated from last year’s squad were current Olympic team member Pete Vagenas and 1999 NSCAA Player of the Year Sasha Victorine.

Including Vagenas and Victorine, who both play for the L.A Galaxy, two other starters moved on the to the MLS. Former sweeper and No. 1 draft pick Steve Shak now plays with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars and defender Carlos Bocanegra left UCLA a year early as the No. 4 pick to play for the Chicago Fire.

Despite the loss of so much talent, this year’s squad is ready to get the ball rolling.

“It’s an exhibition game but we’re going to treat it like a regular season game,” senior midfielder Shaun Tsakirsis said.

Though UCLA defeated both teams last year, neither match will be easy. In their last two meetings, LMU took UCLA into overtime both times.

“Teams like LMU and Westmont, they’re dying to prove themselves against a team like UCLA,” Saldaña said.

Some UCLA players are more confident than others. While Tsakirsis is uncertain how the team will perform stating that he doesn’t know how they’ll do, there is no question in sophomore defender Scot Thompson’s mind of UCLA’s dominance, now and in the future.

“I expect to kill both of these teams. Not to be cocky or anything, but I think we’ll be a good team this year,” he said.

Ten players may be a lot to lose, but the new and returning talent should fill in nicely.

Leading this year’s team are Tsakirsis and senior forward McKinley Tennyson Jr., who were both selected as pre-season All-Americans by College Soccer Online.

Tsakirsis, who was named to the second-team, was a first-team All-MPSF Pacific division player last year. He led the Bruins and the league in assists with 13.

Tennyson, who was an honorable mention pick, tied for leading scorer in the league with 18 goals and was named second-team all-conference last season.

Add returning senior defender Ryan Lee, a second team all-conference pick last year, to the equation and the Bruins have the experience of three 1997 national title players controlling the middle of the field.

Also returning to the line-up is junior midfielder Ryan Futagaki, a 1999 Pan-Am Games bronze medalist and a member of the under-23 USA national team.

Not to be left out on the bench, the incoming class is full of talent itself.

Of the 10 freshman and one transfer, eight have national team experience and four were part of the record setting under-17 USA National Team that placed fourth in the World Championships in 1999.

With one part seasoned talent and one part fresh, this year’s soccer team looks like they’ve got a winning formula.