The last time the Cal men’s soccer team won a conference match was November 11, 2010 at home against Stanford. The last time No. 9 UCLA’s squad lost a conference match was October 24, 2010 in a 1-0 overtime loss to Cal.
In its last 13 consecutive Pac-12 victories, UCLA has not given up a single goal in 638 minutes of conference play. In the past four seasons, the Bruins have won three out of the last four conference championships.
It is this goaliath that the Bears must vanquish this Sunday. The Bears start conference play this Friday against San Diego State (4-2-1) at 4:30 p.m. and on Sunday, UCLA (5-1-2) at 4 p.m. at Edwards Stadium. This weekend will be the last of its seven-game home stretch.
When the Bears finish up the match against the Aztecs, they will have less than 48 hours to formulate a plan of attack against UCLA.
Although the Bears have not lost at home this season, UCLA is also unbeaten on the road so far. Dating back to last season, the Bruins have won 10 of its 12 road matches.
“I don’t want to say it, but (the Bruins will) probably be our toughest competition in the Pac-12 this year,” defender Christian Dean said. “It’s not a surprise that they haven’t lost that many.”
This season, UCLA has played against three top-25 teams and only lost once to No. 4 New Mexico. In arguably its toughest test, the Bruins tied No. 1 Maryland 2-2 in a double overtime match.
By the numbers, UCLA towers over the Bears in nearly all statistics. Forward Fernando Monge leads the Bruins with only three goals. But it is the defense that’s the heart of this top-10 squad — the defensive line has allowed less than a goal per game this season.
Despite being faced against the west coast juggernaut, Cal still holds a sliver of hope of an upset for few reasons. First, the Bears are significantly better than last season, already holding two more wins than in all of last season.
Second, Cal has several young playmakers that can open the impenetrable UCLA defense in forward Stefano Bonomo and midfielder Seth Casiple. Last weekend was one of Bonomo’s best scoring three goals and Casiple leads the Pac-12 with six assists.
Despite defender Ted Jones’s knee injury, which will most likely sideline him for this weekend, the Cal defense has options on the bench that can take over for the starting center back.
Excluding the six goals that most came late in the Maryland match, the Cal defense allowed only five goals this season. Goalkeeper Kevin Peach has been in good form, giving up just one goal last weekend off a penalty kick.
Despite being days away from its biggest match in the conference season, the Bears are keeping it pressure-free. Under head coach Kevin Grimes, the UCLA match is just another match in the schedule, no different from any other.
“Conference or non-conference, none of them (matches) are weighted any differently,” Grimes said. “It’s one-eighteenth of your schedule. Nothing counts more.”
Andrew Davis covers men’s soccer. Contact him at [email protected]
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