COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Junior forward Tim Pierce and junior midfielder Jimmy Frazelle split Loyola Marymount University's defense Sunday. UCLA 0 UCSB 0 LMU 1 UCLA 0
By Jon Corwin
Daily Bruin Contributor
The offense was nowhere to be found this weekend for the UCLA men’s soccer team.
The No. 11 Bruins (3-3-2) failed to score a single goal over the weekend in a loss to Loyola Marymount and a tie with UCSB. Crosstown rival LMU (6-3) blanked UCLA 1-0 in a physical game at Drake Stadium Sunday.
“We knew it would be a physical game, and we came ready to play,” said LMU junior forward Arturo Torres, who scored the only goal of the game in the 29th minute. “I had a lot of confidence that we could come in here and win.”
The physical play from UCLA against LMU resulted in a red card for forward Cliff McKinley in the 70th minute, leaving the Bruins down a man for the last 20 minutes. Defenseman Scot Thompson picked up a yellow card early in the second half of the contest.
Goalkeeper Zach Wells and the UCLA defense turned in solid performances, but the offense couldn’t muster any goals as LMU’s winning streak reached six.
The Bruins narrowly escaped another goal by Torres when McKinley was called for a handball in the box in the 69th minute, but Torres’ penalty kick hit the right post and went wide, out of bounds.
“The defense has really been a solid team effort this year,” said Wells, who only needed to make one save in 120 minutes of play in Friday’s double overtime tie with UCSB. The Bruins forced standout Gaucho goalkeeper Dan Kennedy into making a career-high six saves in the contest.
Sophomore Ty Maurin had several shots on goal, as the UCLA offense put pressure on LMU goalkeeper Dan Sheridan. But time after time the Bruins could not find a way to put the ball in the net.
UCLA was riding high after an impressive 4-1 win over Cal State Fullerton last Sunday, but they failed to carry the momentum from that win into this past weekend’s games.
“We’ll see what kind of character this team has,” Wells said.
The team currently sits at the .500 mark, with several difficult Pac-10 matchups yet to come.
“We are a little unproven upfront,” UCLA head coach Todd Saldaña said. “This was a down weekend for us.”
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The Bruins hope to rebound from a disappointing weekend when they travel to San Diego next week to take on USD and San Diego State.
After receiving a red card, McKinley will be forced to sit out Friday’s game at USD.