UCLA Men's Soccer

by OldSage on Sep 2, 2009 7:48 PM PDT

Bruins Face First Real Test Weekend!

After playing and hosting two exhibition matches, the UCLA Men's Soccer team travels to College Park, MD to face 2008-09 Champion Maryland on Friday, Rounding out the trip, this year's squad will also face Georgetown on Sunday as the regular 2009 season gets underway.

Good News - Bad News

The Good news is that two Bruins were named by Thomas Rongren to the U20 Men's National Team to compete in the U-20 FIFA World Cup in Egypt September 24th thru October 16th. Only one other school had as many players named (Notre Dame).

The Bad news is that both Brian Perk and Michael Stephens could potentially miss half the PAC 10 conference games should the U.S. team go deep in the WC tournament.

This may require the Bruin underclassmen to step it up in both of these guys' absence. A few new guys have begun to do just that. Freshman Dakota Collins scored his first collegiate goal on an assist from fellow freshman Amobi Okugo against Cal State Bakersfield with freshman Evan Raynr scoring an equalizing goal vs. UC Irvine for his first.

Injury Note: Pre-Season Hermann Award candidate Kyle Nakazawa subbed off early after only playing 18 minutes versus the "Eaters" on Saturday (concussion?) "Naka" was hampered with injuries all last season. Let's hope there is nothing serious as in the absence of fellow seniors Perk and Stephens, the Bruins will need his senior leadership this season.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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Good stuff

I’m going to start back up with the non-revenue sports reports on Monday so we’ll have regular updates, but please chime in with your thoughts an analysis whenever you can.