University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
San Diego State
UCLA Finishes Regular Season with 2-1 Victory over San Diego State
November 17, 2014 | Men's Soccer
Los Angeles, Calif. – The sixth ranked UCLA Bruins defeated the San Diego State Aztecs, 2-1, behind goals from Leo Stolz and Abu Danladi on Sunday afternoon at Drake Stadium. The victory earned the Bruins a second place finish in the final Pac-12 Conference standings.
“We are happy with the result today and disappointed not to have won the Pac-12 on the last day,” said UCLA Head Coach Jorge Salcedo. “But, credit to Stanford, they did the job that was needed and they won the conference title. We end the season on a high note, and end the season with a lot of positives moving towards the tournament. The likelihood is that we'll have one of the top seeds in the tournament and we'll wait to see what the committee does with us and what the draw looks like for us. We are eager and anxious to get the tournament started.”
UCLA (11-4-4, 6-2-2 in the Pac-12) got the scoring started in the 31st minute when Stolz struck his seventh goal of the season from just outside the 18-yard box. Left back Chase Gasper received a pass on the left edge of the box from Willie Raygoza to get the play started. Gasper touched it back to Stolz who fired the ball into the bottom left corner of the net past the sprawling Aztec goalkeeper to put the Bruins up.
UCLA continued to mount creative offensive attacks for the remainder of the opening period, repeatedly challenging the San Diego State backline. Most notably, Gage Zerboni slid a through-ball in behind the Aztec defense to find Nico Gonzalez in alone on net in the 39th minute. However, Gonzalez had the ball snatched away by the charging goalkeeper, Adam Allmaras, to prevent a second score prior to halftime.
In an effort to add more speed up top, the Bruins inserted freshman Danladi into the lineup to begin the second half. Immediately paying dividends, the UCLA attack looked athletic and sharp in the second frame. Sophomore midfielder, Raygoza, who was dangerous all afternoon, had a prime opportunity to put UCLA up by two goals in the 64th minute. The near miss came from the top of the penalty area where he controlled a loose ball and launched a rising shot that hit squarely off of the crossbar.
Four minutes later, it was Danladi that would put UCLA ahead by two. Grady Howe began the play by receiving a goal kick on his chest near the midfield stripe, re-directing it to a streaking Raygoza. Raygoza then found Danladi with a lead pass and the Ghanaian did the rest by dribbling around the charging goalkeeper and finishing into the empty net for his fourth tally of the season.
San Diego State (7-12-0, 1-9-0 in the Pac-12) avoided the shutout, however, by finding a goal with just 15 seconds remaining in the game. Pablo Vasquez netted his first goal of the year on a free-kick, denying the Bruins of their eighth shutout in 2014.
Today's game served as the final regular season contest in the careers of seniors Earl Edwards Jr., Alex Padilla, Aaron Simmons, Stolz, Jake Tenzer and Andrew Tusaazemajja. All six seniors played in the match, including Padilla and Tenzer, who each made their first appearances as Bruins.
UCLA will advance to the NCAA Tournament for the 32nd straight season (42nd overall appearance) and will await their draw which will be announced on Monday, November 17th. The selection show will air at 10:00am PT and can be seen live here.
