UCLA
San Diego State
UCLA Wins Pac-12 Opener Over San Diego State
October 05, 2014 | Men's Soccer
San Diego, Calif. – The UCLA Bruins opened their Pac-12 schedule with a 1-0 victory over San Diego State tonight at SDSU Sports Deck behind a first-half goal from Larry Ndjock. The victory marks the ninth straight win for the Bruins over the Aztecs.
“It's great to start out our conference play with a victory on the road,” said UCLA head coach Jorge Salcedo. “We had the majority of the possession, created numerous quality attacking plays and deserved the win. We look forward to the Bay Area trip and our two matches next weekend.”
Coming on as a 39th minute substitution for Christian Chavez, Ndjock netted the game-winner, his second of the season, just five minutes after entering. Fellow German-native Felix Vobejda earned the assist with a cross into the box from five yards out that found Ndjock for the close-range strike.
Senior goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. totaled two saves on the night to capture his sixth shutout of the season and second in a row. The local San Diego product's consecutive shutout streak is now at 255 minutes.
UCLA (6-2-2) proved strong in their first Pac-12 conference game, tallying five shots in the first half, three of which hit the target. Leo Stolz and Abu Danladi forced Aztec goalkeeper Adam Allmaras to make two difficult saves in the period prior to the 44th minute goal from Ndjock. However, the first half was marred by sloppy play from San Diego State who totaled 17 fouls in the initial 45 minutes.
San Diego State (6-4-0) opened the second frame with three shots before the Bruins could rebound with an attempt of their own in the 69th minute. However, the UCLA defense was impressive again, led by Edgar Contreras, Michael Amick and Nathan Smith who all played the full 90 minutes to preserve the shutout.
In total, the Bruins outshot the Aztecs 12-6 and 5-2 in shots on net. San Diego State, who accumulated 24 fouls, had Pablo Vasquez and David Olsen receive yellow cards while UCLA had a yellow card given to Javan Torre.
UCLA will continue conference play Friday Oct. 10 against California in Berkeley, Calif. Kick-off is set for 2:00pm and the game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks.
