UCLA FALLS TO OREGON

UCLA Falls in Double Overtime to Oregon State

College Soccer News: Coming off of back-to-back wins, the UCLA Bruins took on Oregon State today, October 2 and lost in double overtime.

The UCLA Bruins lost their opening match of the Pac-12 Conference season, 1-0, in double overtime to Oregon State on Friday afternoon at Paul Lorenz Field. A 102^nd minute goal from Timmy Mueller sunk the Bruins hopes of a second-straight overtime victory.

“Today was one of those games where we do everything better than our opponent, but find a way to lose,” said UCLA Head Coach Jorge Salcedo. “Ultimately, we didn’t make the plays we needed to make to win. Having more possession, corner kicks and shots on goal doesn’t ensure winning. With each game that we don’t earn points, it makes the margin of error less as we continue to go through the conference.”

In the first half, both the Bruins and Beavers played much of the match in the middle of the pitch with neither team generating any significant offensive chances. UCLA garnered the only shot on target of the half when Erik Holt put his head on a Jackson Yueill corner, but Oregon State goalkeeper Nolan Wirth was there for the stop.

At the half, both teams had tallied four shots with the Bruins holding the edge in corners, 3-1.

UCLA (4-5-0) came out more aggressive in the second half and began to dominate the time of possession. In the 60^th minute, the Bruins thought that they had earned the opening breakthrough when Jordan Vale fed a ball across the face of goal to Larry Ndjock for the finish. However, the assistant referee ruled that both Vale and Ndjock were offside when Vale received the through ball and UCLA was left without a goal.

One minute later, Oregon State (6-3-0) countered and sent a long ball into the box where Jordan Jones was there to head the ball on net. The header was on target, but Pepe Barroso-Silva made an acrobatic diving save to keep the Beavers off of the board and maintain the scoreless tie.

Following the Beaver chance, the Bruins went back to controlling the pace of play and earned a free-kick from just outside the penalty area in the 78^th minute. Second-half substitute, Seyi Adekoya, hit a hard bending ball toward the top right corner of the net that looked destined to score. However, Wirth dove and made an amazing save to keep Adekoya off of the scoresheet and keep the Beavers level.

The Adekoya free-kick marked the last good chance for UCLA in a frustrating opening 90 minutes of play which saw the Bruins dominate time of possession, but fail to score. In overtime, it was much of the same for UCLA until the final minute of the opening overtime session. The Bruins made one last push and got the ball to Yueill at the top of the box where he let a low shot fly. His attempt was blocked and deflected to the left side of the box where a Chase Gasper attempt was saved by Wirth. Yueill then got two more cracks at the net, but both of his shots were blocked and Oregon State escaped the late scramble to force a second overtime.

Just two minutes into the second session, a long ball was played over the top of the Bruin backline to Timmy Mueller in the penalty area. With Barroso-Silva charging, Mueller took a quick leaping touch to chip the ball over the UCLA goalkeeper and into the net for the game-winning score for Oregon State.

In total, UCLA out-shot Oregon State, 15-12, and earned seven corners to the Beavers’ four. Barroso-Silva finished the game with two saves, while Wirth totaled five to earn his fifth shutout.

The joy of victory was not to be shared by the UCLA Bruins today.

UCLA closes its Pac-12 Conference road trip on Sunday, October 4 at 7:00pm PT against the Washington Huskies. The game can be seen live on the Pac-12 Networks. The Bruins will return home after Sunday’s game to take on San Diego State on Monday, October 12. Tickets for all home matches can be purchased by visiting uclabruins.com/tickets or by calling 310-UCLA-WIN