UCLA Men’s Soccer Top Cal State Northridge at Home
UCLA men’s soccer continue its preseason schedule with a victory over Cal State Northridge at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles. The Bruins are currently ranked No. 9 in the nation with a 2016 record of 3-1-1 so far. UCLA travel to take on UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night in the team’s first road match of the season.
College Soccer News: UCLA’s goal-scoring tear continued with a 4-0 victory over Cal State Northridge on Monday night. Four different players scored goals for the eighth-ranked Bruins, with senior Willie Raygoza contributing a goal and an assist. Bruin goalkeeper Juan Cervantes earned the shutout, his second of the season.
“Tonight was a good team performance,” said UCLA head coach Jorge Salcedo. “We’ve scored 10 goals in the last two games, and you can start to see some signs of good attacking moments that are more consistent. Our first goal was a great team goal, a good combination and a finish by Willie Raygoza. I’m glad that we were able to post a shutout. We had a good mentality from all the reserves that came on; they had a good understanding of what the game plan was.”
Raygoza got UCLA on the board at 10:31 with a shot in the box after a cross from Jose Hernandez. Brian Iloski was also credited with an assist. Redshirt freshman Matthew Powell earned his first career goal with a second-chance effort at 24:25. Powell’s first shot from close range was saved by CSUN goalkeeper Kevin Marquez, but Powell stayed with the play and tapped in the rebound for the 2-0 Bruin lead.
CSUN (2-3-0) had their share of chances but often fired off-target. Alfonso Flores had a shot cleared off the line by Bruin defender Michael Amick in the 35th minute, and 30 seconds later, Cervantes made a big save on a shot by Edwin Quiroz. Cervantes denied Quiroz again in the 47th minute on a close-range shot in the box.
UCLA (3-1-1) tacked on two more goals late in the contest. Junior forward Abu Danladi scored his third goal of the year in the 75th minute on a hard-angled shot from the right side, assisted by Amick, and in the final minute, red-shirt freshman forward Blayne Martinez recorded his second goal of the season. Raygoza set up Martinez’s goal with a cross in front of the goal. Christian Chavez and Marquez challenged for the ball, and Chavez got a foot on it, sending it to Martinez, who poked it into the empty net from the left post.
“At the end of the day it’s all about execution, and tonight our execution was pretty good,” Salcedo said.
UCLA will next take on UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night in Santa Barbara in the Bruins’ first road match of the season. The match will take place at Harder Stadium at 7 pm.
Source/Photo Credit: UCLA Athletics
