SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The UCLA Men's Club soccer team went undefeated at the NIRSA Region IV southern tournament to secure a spot to the competitive division at the National Tournament in Round Rock, Texas in November.
The Bruins (7-1-2) started the weekend strong with a hard-fought draw against UCSB Friday afternoon. The Gauchos were able to find the back of the net first but could not hold onto the lead for long as sophomore
Gustavo Gutierrez found the equalizer from a pass from Senior
Taig Lonergan.
The tournament formatting gave the Bruins a second game Friday evening against the tournament hosts, Cal Poly. Despite having minimal rest between games, the Bruins came out strong in the first half recording a goal from Senior
Ciaran Hernon who Junior
Michael Crisera assisted. The Bruins were able to put two more goals past the Mustang defense in the second half with goals from Senior
Giorgio Conta and Sophomore
Tyler Cho who were assisted by Hernon and Freshman
Emmett Tjen, respectively. Junior goalkeeper
Sam Friedman recorded his first clean sheet of the weekend and his second of the year.
After not having to play a game on Saturday having automatically qualified for the semifinals on Sunday morning, the Bruins were well rested for their matchup against crosstown rivals, USC. The last time UCLA played USC in the semifinals; the Trojans were able to walk away with the win.
Senior defenders
Quinn Sprague and
Tosh Martin did not let up to any of the attacks by the Trojans, stopping a multitude of promising attacks with some big tackles. Friedman recorded a few crucial saves to keep the score 0-0 going into halftime. The Bruins would find the go-ahead goal on a header from Conta who was assisted by Hernon. Near the end of the game, Hernon broke through the Trojan defense and was able to find Cho to make the score 2-0 in favor of the Bruins. UCLA would fend off the Trojans for the final few minutes to book their ticket to the final.
First-year head coach,
Branden Werner said after the match, "The lads worked hard for this win today and we have some areas to improve on before we head off to nationals. I'm proud of these guys for putting in the shifts this weekend and coming out with the win." Werner went on to say, "The team has done an amazing job this year adapting to our new system. Travis, Mikey, Tosh, Quinn, and the rest of the guys have been working so hard to get this playstyle to work week in and week out that it is paying off greatly."
However, the Bruins would not get to play a final. An altercation between the SDSU and UCSB in the other semifinal would cause both teams to be disqualified. Due to the disqualification, the UCLA Bruins qualified for the 2023 NIRSA National Championships in the championship division. The Bruin's captain, Hernon, said after they received the news, "The jobs not finished. We must train hard for the few weeks to get the results we want at nationals."
The UCLA Men's Club soccer team travels to Round Rock, Texas to compete in the national tournament on November 15
th. For more current updates, follow UCLA men's club soccer on Instagram (@uclamensclubsoccer).
