EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior midfielder
Jimmy Frazelle dribbles the ball against two St.
Mary’s defenders earlier this season.
By Brian Thompson
Daily Bruin Reporter
As the 2001 men’s collegiate soccer season kicked off,
UCLA head coach Todd Saldaña knew he was dealing with a team
much different than the ones he led in his previous two years at
the helm.
For the first time, the core of the team was made up mostly of
players recruited by Saldaña. Only five players from the Sigi
Schmid regime remained. And, perhaps more noteworthy, not a single
player from the 1997 NCAA championship team was on the squad.
The veteran stalwarts were gone, and youth was the theme of the
2001 Bruins. Unlike years past, UCLA began the season as more of a
work in progress than a well-oiled machine.
“We’ve got a great pool of talent now,”
Saldaña said at the beginning of the season.
“We’re still a very young team. (But) there’s a
basis of a really strong team. It’s just a matter of how
quick we can put it together.”
The Bruins certainly had the talent. Their defense, the strength
of the team, returned starters Scot Thompson, Alex Yi, Nelson
Akwari and Leonard Griffin. The solid back four helped the
development of new starting goalkeeper Zach Wells.
The question mark heading into the season was the development of
the midfielders and forwards. There was no doubt that the Bruins
had talent in those areas, but the question was how long it would
take for these players to gel and become a cohesive, potent scoring
threat?
Through the first 14 games, it was in doubt whether UCLA
would ever find any rhythm this season. The team seemed to be
walking in place, so to speak, as it opened with a very average
6-6-2 record. Sure, there were impressive wins like the 1-0 victory
over Santa Clara or the 2-1 upset of then-No. 1 Stanford. But for
every impressive result, the Bruins would lay an egg soon after.
Such was evident in results like the 1-0 loss to a very mediocre
Oregon State team, or the losses at home to UC Irvine and Loyola
Marymount.
More than halfway into the season, it was in serious doubt if
the Bruins would extend their 18-year streak of making the NCAA
tournament.
Then, right before UCLA was to host the Pacific Soccer Classic,
the Bruins realized that it was time to turn it on. The Bruins knew
that their chances of making the tournament were decreasing with
every loss.
“For there to be a definite chance of us going to the
postseason, we can’t lose again,” said Yi prior to the
PSC.
And just like that, the Bruins went on a run that saw them
through to the NCAA Tournament. The Oct. 26 game against St.
Mary’s was a turning point, as UCLA put five goals on the
scoreboard. It was the Bruins’ biggest goal outburst of the
season. The offense, which had been sputtering all year, had begun
to click. Tim Pierce, Cliff McKinley, Matt Taylor and Ryan
Futagaki’s efforts began to find the back of the net.
The Bruins capped the regular season by going undefeated with a
4-0-2 record in their final six games. In that stretch, the Bruins
defeated in dramatic fashion soon-to-be NCAA Tournament teams
Washington and California, with both wins coming in overtime, and
also secured an impressive 0-0 tie on the road against powerhouse
Stanford.
The Bruins finished the regular season as the second place team
in the Pac-10 with a 10-6-4 record. In the NCAA Tournament, the
Bruins would be placed in a grouping they very much found to their
liking.
UCLA opened the tournament against LMU, a team that earlier in
the year beat the Bruins. UCLA sent the game into overtime with a
last minute goal in regulation before coming out with a 3-2
victory. In the second round, the Bruins were able to avenge
another early season loss by overthrowing a tough San Diego team
4-0.
That set up the glamour match of the third round, where UCLA
faced off against No. 1 and undefeated Southern Methodist. Heading
into the contest, the Bruins had a lot to be confident about. All
elements of their game were clicking.
“We’re feeling really good,” Futagaki said
before the game. “Our defense has been playing well all year.
But now the guys who need to be putting the ball in the net are.
They are starting to step up, starting to click, and starting to
come together finally.”
What most thought would be an offensive game turned out to be a
defensive struggle. Neither team would buckle. Then, late in the
game, Futagaki was shown a red card. SMU scored four minutes later,
and a 10-man UCLA squad could not muster a comeback.
It was a bitter way to end the year. Still, the Bruins have a
lot to be proud of heading into next season. UCLA only loses two
players this season (assuming no one bolts early to professional
soccer). The team learned how to play together. The defense is one
of the best in the nation. And the offense became a potent threat
late in the year.
The Bruins should be among the favorites for the NCAA title next
year. Now, it’s just a matter of continuing all of the
progress that was made this season.