Men’s soccer’s sophomore midfielder Sal Zizzo made his presence felt over the weekend on the U.S. U-23 National Team’s trip to Japan. The San Diego native had a hand in both goals for the United States in their 2-2 draw against JFL’s Rosso Kumamoto.

The first goal came after the Rosso Kumamoto goalie saved a shot from a breaking Zizzo, which left teammate Adam Cristman open to put in an easy rebound in the 46th minute. The second goal came later when Zizzo raced past a couple defenders and hit a pass that found Cristman for a second goal.

The speedy Zizzo was called up to team after UCLA scrimmaged against the U-23 National Team, and he was joined by former Bruin Patrick Ianni.

Before playing against Rosso Kumamoto, the U.S. team faced the U-22 Japanese team and played to a 0-0 tie.

If there was any downside to the trip, it was that Zizzo had to miss the Bruins’ scrimmage against the L.A. Galaxy at the Home Depot Center. The Galaxy ended up winning the exhibition 3-0, playing their starters for 60 minutes and getting goals from Landon Donovan, Alan Gordon and Josh Tudela.

All in all, it has been an eventful spring season for the UCLA men’s soccer team with the scrimmages and the recruits slated to come in next season.

Coach Jorge Salcedo signed three players to national letters of intent earlier in the month, including Kyle McAthy, Fernando DeAlba and Brian Rowe. McAthy was a Los Angeles Times All-Area selection and is expected to be a dangerous goal scorer up front. DeAlba represents a defensive specialist, and Rowe is a highly touted goalkeeper.

“Each of the players will give us depth in each of their respective positions,” Salcedo said. “I expect all of them to contribute to our program.”

KLOSTERMAN NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior Steve Klosterman was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I-II Men’s National Player of the Week on Monday for his strong play against both No. 10 Cal State Northridge and No. 3 UC Santa Barbara. The award marks the 14th time a Bruin has earned Player of the Week honors, and the first since Nick Scheftic in April 2006.

The Long Beach native had 22 kills in a row against Northridge before making his first error in the third game. He finished the night with 31 total kills.

Against Santa Barbara, he had another big night, tallying 23 kills to help the Bruins beat the highest-ranked team to date this season.

Over the weekend, Klosterman upped his kill total to 1,271, which is good enough for No. 5 in school history and No. 1 during the rally-scoring area.

Compiled by Bobby Gordon, Bruin Sports senior staff.