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Senior Mike Enfield struggled in making contributions to the team during his first three years as

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When standing next to him, Mike Enfield does not appear to be intimidating.

But for his opponents, he may very well be their worst nightmare.

Though standing only at 5-foot-7 and under 150 pounds, easily the smallest of the starting Bruin forwards, Enfield doesn’t let his physical stature diminish his presence on the soccer field.

However, it wasn’t always that way for the senior forward.

To say the least, Enfield’s offense was dormant in his first three years as a Bruin. It wasn’t until his 54th collegiate game that he scored his first goal.

Now, not only does Enfield lead his team in scoring, but he leads the entire Pac-10 in goals scored.

“It’s the greatest feeling there is, especially when you go two years without scoring a goal,” Enfield said. “You realize how hard it is to score and how lucky you are. You just want to scream. All this energy is built inside you and when you score, you just want to let it out.”

Yet his success this year is not surprising when considering his background.

Enfield came out of high school as a heralded recruit, having already achieved great success while playing for the Under-18 National Team. But not all matches are made in heaven, and Enfield found it difficult to find his niche on a team stocked with 16 seniors. He only played in 11 games his freshman season, making it into the starting lineup just once. Hardly what Enfield expected coming to Westwood.

“The first year, I really just didn’t fit into what the team was trying to do,” Enfield said. “I don’t know if it was that I wasn’t mature enough as a player or if I wasn’t the right player at the time for the coach.”

That coach was Tom Fitzgerald, who left after last season.

In his place emerged current coach Jorge Salcedo, who was as an assistant during Fitzgerald’s regime. Since Salcedo was hired, it became very clear that he better understood how to utilize Enfield’s abilities.

“(During Enfield’s first three years), some of the roles that we asked him to play did not put him in his best light,” Salcedo said.

“I have a different role on the team than I did the first couple of years when there were other guys that wanted the ball in front of the goal,” Enfield added.

Those “other guys” happened to be players like 2003 Pac-10 Player of the Year Matt Taylor. With Taylor scoring 19 goals last year alone, there was little need, and very few opportunities, for Enfield to score any.

This year is certainly a different story.

With the defending Pac-10 champions having trouble creating scoring opportunities, Salcedo decided to move Enfield, who had spent the last three years as a midfielder, to the forward position.

“My desire for him to have a more attacking role on the team and be more of a scoring threat than he had been in the past couple of years started in the spring,” Salcedo said. “We needed him to be closer to the goal and get more opportunities closer to goal.”

The move had immediate results, with Enfield scoring two goals in a 3-1 win over Cal State Northridge in the opening weeks of the regular season.

“No one else was scoring goals,” Enfield said. “So if I am getting good opportunities, I am going to take more shots than in previous years.”

And taken more shots he has. Enfield’s total of 29 shots this season is already more than the number of shots he has taken during any of his previous three years. Similarly, his eight goals scored this season is more than he had scored in his past three years combined.

Enfield attributes much of his success to the guidance of Salcedo.

“Coach Salcedo gives a lot of players a lot of confidence,” Enfield said. “You feel free to do what you want to do, whereas Fitzgerald did the same thing, but you could never be sure of what he meant.”

Much of this understanding comes from the fact that Salcedo’s first year as an assistant coach at UCLA coincided with Enfield’s freshman year.

“With Mike, (he needed) an understanding of what was being asked of him and the confidence of that if it doesn’t work out,” Salcedo said. “I have confidence in him that is unyielding and unbending.”

“I realize when Salcedo says something, he means it,” Enfield said.

And what Salcedo is telling Enfield is that he needs a scorer. It’s a request Enfield loves obliging to.

Enfield hopes to keep this feeling going after college. Though he has not yet received offers from any Major League Soccer coaches, the season he is having is certainly helping his chances of advancing to the professional level.

“I want to play soccer as long as I can,” Enfield said. “Wherever it takes me. I don’t care where. I just want to play.”

As the goals and awards keep piling up, it will only be a matter of where, not whether, he plays professionally.

And one thing is for certain. He won’t go unnoticed.