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Celebrating their victory, Matt Taylor (left), who was involved in five of the team's seven goals, embraces teammates Tim Pierce (center) and Adolfo Gregorio.

UCLA men’s soccer head coach Tom Fitzgerald said he got goose bumps when UCLA scored its fifth goal against Penn State in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament Saturday night.

“I woke up this morning at 4:35 and said … there’s no way we’re going to score more than five goals today,” he said.

Apparently there was a way to score not just five, but seven, as UCLA’s offense took 21 shots compared to Penn State’s four, in their 7-1 quarterfinal win Saturday night.

Junior forward Matt Taylor had a standout performance with his first career hat trick, all netted late in the second half.

“Its awesome,” said Taylor. “It’s pretty easy when you have these guys out there passing the ball – it almost makes it too easy.”

It did look almost too easy for the Bruins. Senior forward Tim Pierce, who leads the team in scoring with 10 goals this season, added two in a five-minute span to the Bruin scoreboard after the half, both off assists from Taylor.

Jimmy Frazelle was so excited about his successful shot in the 85th minute that he ripped off his jersey and twirled it in the air as he ran to the Bruin bench in celebration.

“Our team has a lot of good offensive players,” said Pierce. “We can attack at all angles.”

UCLA’s scoring frenzy, however, was entirely relegated to the second half. The match began on an apparent low note for the Bruins as Penn State’s David Walters scored in the third minute of the game.

“I think (the early goal) made us play better,” said Fitzgerald. “It got us focused to what we needed to do.”

Although UCLA certainly knew what was necessary to gain a ticket to the Final Four, the next 20 minutes did not see much progress toward that goal. Although the Bruins often found themselves in the Nittany Lions’ box, they could not find clear shots on net.

Penn State’s defense was smothering; whenever a UCLA player dribbled close enough to score, multiple Penn State defenders led successful counter attacks.

It looked like the Bruins were in for a close match – but anyone who was there knows better.

One dramatic moment that garnered gasps from even the home crowd of over 1,500 Bruin fans occurred 25 minutes into the game, on a breakaway by junior forward Cliff McKinley.

As he dribbled toward Penn State’s goal at full speed, a collision with Penn State keeper Ryan Sickman prevented McKinley from scoring.

Sickman was given a red card and suspended from the game for denying a goal-scoring opportunity. Gregorio took the successful penalty kick to tie the game and start the offensive Bruin barrage.

“The tying goal was what changed the game,” said Fitzgerald

That it did – and it showed just what an aggressive team UCLA is.

The third-seeded Bruins will have to keep up their aggressive play as they take on No. 2 Maryland, a team that Fitzgerald describes as “going 100 mph for 90 minutes,” Friday at the NCAA College Cup in Dallas.