The Bruins had an extremely rough season in 2007 as they fell far short of expectations and as a result they entered 2008 with head coach Jorge Salcedo's job on the line. The 2008 season didn't get off to a good start either, but once conference play began the Bruins caught fire and won the Pac 10 rather comfortably. While their poor beginning to the season cost the Bruins a chance at a seed in the NCAA tournament and the first round bye that goes with it, they did earn themselves a home match in the first round. UCLA will begin their quest for the program's fifth national title on Friday versus Cal Poly, but before we get into some tournament talk, let's take a look back at the regular season.

UCLA opened the 2008 season as the nation's #14 team with a season opening match at the Home Depot Center versus Maryland, who was ranked #8. The Bruins got off to a good start as senior Maxwell Griffin scored to give the Bruins a lead, but the Terps scored with only a minute left in the game to even the score and then scored again in overtime to down the Bruins 2-1. The Bruins followed that up with a 3-0 win over UC Riverside and then traveled to North Carolina for the Wake Forest Tournament where they played two excellent teams. First, the Bruins lost 3-0 to Wake Forest, a team that started and finished the year as the nation's top team. In their last game of the tournament the Bruins played to a 1-1 tie with North Carolina, a team that earned the #13 seed in the NCAA tournament. At 1-1-1, the Bruins came back to the west coast where they would remain for the rest of the year.

The Bruins took on an Indiana team that is the #6 seed in the tournament in their first game back home and were dealt yet another 3-0 defeat. They followed that up with a 2-0 win over Santa Clara before they went on a rather remarkable, if not impressive streak. The Bruins went on to tie their next four matches, three of which were non-conference matches and the final of which was their first conference match of the year. The Bruins ended their pre-conference season with a 2-3-4 record and Salcedo was beginning to feel serious heat from fans. The Bruins were in an unimaginable position for such a storied program. They were on the outside of the NCAA tournament bubble looking in.

Their first conference match was their fourth consecutive tie as they fought San Diego St. to a 3-3 draw. The season looked lost, especially with a trip to Berkeley on tap where they would play the defending conference champions Golden Bears, who were widely regarded as the conference's top team. The match went into overtime, where UCLA junior Michael Stephens converted a penalty kick after a foul in the box to give the Bruins a 3-2 win. The Bruins lost their next match to Stanford, but that would be their final defeat of the season.

The Bruins were at a crossroads in their season. They were 3-4-5 overall and 1-1-1 in Pac 10 play. They were on the outside of the NCAA tournament bubble and needed to go on a run to qualify for the postseason. A run is exactly what they got and it began with a match versus Washington that the Bruins won 2-0. UCLA then took down Oregon St. 3-0. The next weekend the same two teams were on the schedule, but this time up in the northwest. The scores weren't as impressive the second time around, but the results was the same as the Bruins beat the Huskies 2-0 in Seattle and the Beavers 1-0 in Corvallis. All of a sudden the Bruins were atop the Pac 10 with a chance to put a stranglehold on the conference title with a win over Cal the next weekend at Drake Stadium.

The match with the Bears lacked goals, but not excitement. The two teams combined for 43 shots, but none of them found the net as the two teams played to a 0-0 draw. The Bruins maintained their lead in the Pac 10 and needed a win in their next game and a Cal loss to clinch the conference crown. The Bruins got their wish as the Bears finished up a loss to San Diego St. moments after the Bruins kicked off their match with Stanford. 90 minutes and two Bruin goals later the Bruins had themselves not only a 2-0 victory, but a conference title as well. UCLA rounded out the season with a 2-1 win over Cal Poly in a non-conference match and a 6-1 win in their season finale versus San Diego St.

The Bruins ended the season with a 10-4-6 overall record and 7-1-2 conference record, but the numbers from the second half of the season are truly mind-boggling. The Bruins went 8-1-1 in their final 10 games, were unbeaten in 14 of their last 15 and were unbeaten in their final eight games in which they outscored opponents 18-2. Needless to say, the Bruins found their groove late and put together a run of play comparable to nearly any other team in the nation.

Photo Credit: UCLA Athletics Official Site

Maxwell Griffin led the Bruins in goals with, but Michael Stephens led the Bruins in points. The midfielder finished with 23 points (seven goals and nine assists), one more than Griffin. Stephens' nine assists earned him the team lead along with senior Jason Leopoldo who had nine as well. Stephens and Leopoldo were joined by junior Danny Suits as the leaders in starts as the three were the only Bruins to start all 20 matches. In goal for the Bruins was US U-20 national team standout junior Brian Perk. Perk started all 18 games he played in and finished the year with a 0.96 goals against average, .798 save percentage and seven shutouts.

The men's NCAA soccer tournament will take place for the 50th time this year and will have 48 teams in competition. The top 16 teams were seeded by the selection committee and received byes to the second round where they will host matches. The 32 other teams must play in the first round at campus sites around the country on Saturday. Second round matches will take place on Tuesday and third round matches will be played at campus sites again, either on November 29 or 30. The quarterfinals will again be at campus sites, this time on the weekend of December 5. The College Cup, which is composed of both the semifinals and finals will take place at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The semifinals will take place on December 12 with the national title game on the 14th. You can check out the bracket for yourself here.

The Bruins drew Cal Poly in their first round match. Cal Poly was one of the last teams to get into the tournament and the Bruins appear to be one of he higher thought of non-seeded teams so UCLA will host the match on Friday at 7 pm PST. The Bruins and Mustangs played earlier this season; a match the Bruins won 2-1. UCLA got off to a 2-0 start, but a dubious penalty call gave the Mustangs a goal late in the match to give it its final score. The Mustangs have not qualified for the NCAA tournament since 1995 and as a result have no tournament experience. Just because Cal Poly appears to be one of the weaker teams in the tournament does not mean they're a pushover. The Mustangs finished third in an ultra competitive Big West and are led by an offense that uses the width of the field well to open up space for clever balls that create scoring chances.

Should the Bruins advance past Cal Poly they will take a short bus ride to UC Irvine to take on the Anteaters on Tuesday. Irvine earned the #14 seed in the tournament after winning the Big West conference. The Bruins and Anteaters have not played each other since 2001, a match won by Irvine.

The Bruins would most likely play St. Johns, the tournament's #3 seed, should they advance past Irvine. The Johnnies have put together an extremely impressive record this season with some high quality talent, but their schedule left much to be desired so we may not have a good barometer of how good they really are. The last time the Bruins and Red Storm played was in 2004 when St. Johns beat the Bruins 2-1 in the third round of the NCAA's.

If UCLA advances to the quarterfinals they could see the same Indiana team that beat them 3-0 early in the season; however trying to predict who the Bruins will play that far into a one and done tournament is useless. The top four seeds in the tournament are #1 Wake Forest, #2 Maryland, #3 St. Johns and #4 Michigan St. so the smart money is on those four to advance to the College Cup, but we all know that anything can happen.

The Bruins are likely to only host one NCAA tournament match so hopefully we can make it count. That's to both the team and fans as Bruins throughout Southern California should make their way out to Drake Stadium for Fridays 7 pm PST kickoff. Tickets are $9 for adults and $7 for children/students.

This is more of a informational post about the season, but if you've followed the team or just have something to say about it go at it in the comments. Talk strategy, personnel or anything else on your mind. GO BRUINS!!!