UCLA Travels To Pacific Northwest To Face Oregon State, Washington
Oct. 16, 2007
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This Week -- The UCLA men's soccer team (5-5-2, 1-1-1 in the Pac-10) travels to the Pacific Northwest to face Pac-10 foes Oregon State (4-7-0, 1-2-0) and Washington (5-5-2, 0-2-1). The Bruins will first play Oregon State in Corvallis on Friday, Oct. 19 at 7:30 pm before flying up to Seattle to face the Huskies on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 1 pm.
Live Coverage -- Gametracker live stats will be available for both games. The link can be found at UCLABruins.com.
Scouting The Beavers -- Oregon State is coming off a 2-1 overtime win at Washington. Mason Webb scored the golden goal at 95:45 to give the Beavers the win. Nick Webb, Mason's twin brother, leads Oregon State in scoring with six points (2g, 2a). Goalkeeper Packy Deenihan ranks fourth in the Pac-10 with 30 saves.
UCLA's History With Oregon State -- UCLA is 15-4-0 all-time against Oregon State and has won the last three meetings with the Beavers. The Bruins swept the season series in 2006, posting a 2-1 win in Los Angeles on Oct. 1 after goals by Kyle Nakazawa in the ninth minute and Jason Leopoldo to break the tie in the 54th minute. In the matchup in Corvallis on Oct. 20, Leopoldo scored two goals, and David Estrada had the game-winner in a 3-0 victory.
Scouting The Huskies -- The injury bug has hit Washington hard in recent weeks. The Huskies lost goalkeeper Rylan Hawkins for the year with a facial injury after a violent collision at New Mexico on Sept. 14, and this week lost 2006 Pac-10 Player of the Year and 2007 leading scorer (6g, 3a) Kevin Forrest for the season with a fractured foot. These two injuries are in addition to the season-ending injuries suffered earlier by freshman defender Jamie Finch, who played just one game before breaking an ankle in practice; junior midfielder and 2006 All-Pac-10 selection Jo Jo Katz, who tore his ACL in spring practice; and senior midfielder Steve Mohn, who broke his leg in summer league play. Leading Washington in its quest to snap a four-game winless streak is senior and three-time All-Pac-10 honoree Ely Allen, who has scored four goals this year.
UCLA's History With Washington -- UCLA is 14-10-2 all-time against Washington. The teams split the season series in 2006, with each winning at home. The Bruins won a thriller in Westwood on Sept. 29, 2-1 in double overtime. Mike Zaher scored the game's first goal in the 32nd minute, but Ty Harden sent the game to overtime with a goal in the 89th minute. The teams were looking at a 1-1 tie before UCLA's James Jaramillo swooped in for the game-winning goal, the first of his career, with just 18 seconds left in the second overtime period. In Seattle on Oct. 22, Washington shut out UCLA by a 2-0 score on a pair of first-half goals by Ely Allen and George John.
Zaher Brothers To Meet On Opposite Sides For First Time -- When UCLA meets Oregon State on Friday, UCLA senior defender Mike Zaher will oppose his younger brother Zac, a freshman midfielder on the Oregon State team, for the first time. Playing the Beavers always has special meaning for Mike, whose older brother Joe was a star freshman at Oregon State before he was tragically killed in an automobile accident in 2002. Joe Zaher was the 2002 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and a Freshman All-American. Mike is a three-year starter at UCLA and was a first-team All-Pac-10 selection in 2006. He has started in all 12 games this season and ranks second on the team with two goals, two assists and six points. Zac has played in five games this season for the Beavers, taking one shot on goal.
More Family Stories -- Mike Zaher is not the only Bruin who will have a chance to catch up with his younger brother this weekend. Greg Folk's younger brother Erik is a freshman place kicker with the University of Washington football team. The Folks have a more famous older brother, Nick, who recently kicked a game-winning 53-yard field goal for the Dallas Cowboys against Buffalo on Monday Night Football.
Bruins Record Two Shutouts Against Bay Area Teams -- UCLA played tremendous defense over the weekend, posting a pair of shutouts against Stanford (0-0 tie) and California (1-0 win). Goalkeeper Brian Perk earned the clean sheet in both games for his fourth and fifth shutouts of the season. The Bruin offense produced 11 shots against Stanford and 13 against Cal, with Maxwell Griffin coming through with the game-winner against the Golden Bears with just 2:16 left in regulation. Mike Zaher started the play by making a steal at midfield and then passing to Kyle Nakazawa, who found Tony Beltran open. Beltran sent a nice through ball up the middle to Griffin, who beat Cal keeper Stefan Frei for his team-leading fifth goal of the year.
UCLA Gets Perks Of Strong Goalkeeping -- Sophomore goalkeeper Brian Perk has been outstanding in goal for the Bruins in his first season as the full-time starter. Perk, the U.S. Under-20 National Team goalkeeper, has started all 12 games, recording a 0.88 goals against average and 51 saves. Perk is tied for the Pac-10 lead with five shutouts and has allowed just one goal in his last 390 minutes of play (0.23 GAA). After his two-shutout performance this past weekend against Stanford and Cal, Perk was selected to the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week and was named the UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week.
Folk, Zaher Nominated For Senior CLASS Award -- UCLA defenders Greg Folk and Mike Zaher are amongst 20 seniors nominated for the 2007 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for men's soccer. The award is presented annually in eight NCAA Division I sports to a senior student-athlete who excels both on and off the field. The areas of excellence are identified under classroom, community, character and competition. Both players have been exemplary student-athletes, twice earning Pac-10 All-Academic honors. In addition, Zaher won UCLA's Team GPA award in 2006. Both have remained active in the community, participating in several community outreach projects and fund-raisers. The two team co-captains have been starters for UCLA since their sophomore seasons, and last year Zaher earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors and third-team NSCAA All-Far West acclaim. He was selected as a pre-season All-American in 2007 by College Soccer News.
Iron Men -- Three Bruins have played every minute of every game so far this year - junior midfielder/defender Tony Beltran, senior defender Greg Folk and sophomore goalkeeper Brian Perk have each totaled 1,124 minutes of play. This is nothing new for Folk, who played all 2,260 minutes a year ago.
UCLA Nearing Full-Strength -- Various injuries to several key players this season have prevented UCLA from maintaining continuity in the starting lineup, but the Bruins are now nearing full-strength as the injuries have healed. Senior defender Brandon Owens, who missed three games after suffering a sprained knee at Cal State Northridge on Sept. 29, returned to the starting lineup against California on Oct. 14. Forward David Estrada, who missed a full month with a fractured foot, has started in the Bruins' last five games. Midfielder Jason Leopoldo missed the Cal State Northridge and San Diego games after injuring his hamstring at Santa Clara but returned to the starting lineup in time for the Pac-10 opener Oct. 6 at San Diego State.
A Look At The Pac-10 Standings -- San Diego State currently leads the Pac-10 with nine points after capturing victories in its first three conference games. The Aztecs have not lost a Pac-10 match since dropping a 2-1 decision to UCLA on Oct. 8, 2006. This weekend at Washington and Oregon State, however, they will be playing only their second and third away games of the season. California stands in second place with six points and a 2-2-0 Pac-10 record, and Stanford is in third place with five points (1-1-2). The two teams play each other on Saturday in Berkeley. UCLA is still in contention with four points (1-0-1).
Bruins A Big Draw -- The Bruins are a hot-ticket item on the road this year. UCLA road games this year (six away, one neutral) have averaged 3,542 fans. School attendance records were set at Indiana (7,423) and at Creighton (5,812), and the Bruins played in front of an over-capacity crowd of 3,143 at San Francisco. In addition, the team played in front of season-best crowds of 2,333 at Santa Clara and 1,095 at Cal State Northridge. Last Sunday's home game against Cal drew a UCLA season-high of 2,310 fans. Overall this season, the Bruins are playing in front of crowds averaging 2,623, and UCLA leads the Pac-10 in home attendance average (1,136).
Blogging With The Bruins -- Get a behind-the-scenes look at UCLA soccer through the eyes of Bruin players Kyle Nakazawa and Tony Beltran. Nakazawa, a sophomore midfielder, is contributing to the 100 Percent Soccer blog at the Daily Breeze website, while Beltran, a junior midfielder/defender is blogging for UCLABruins.com.