Huge Win For UCLA: Bruins Beat Defending Champions # 1 Maryland

I will get the game day related festivities in a bit. Before we do that we have some fantastic news to start this Saturday morning with.

Talk about starting the labor day weekend on a great note. An absolutely huge win for Coach Jorge Salcedo and our men's soccer team. From the official site:

College Park, Md. - No. 19/9 UCLA upset No. 1/8 Maryland, 2-0, in both teams' season opener in front of a Ludwig Field record crowd of 6,718 in College Park, Md. The Bruins received second-half goals from senior defender Sean Alvarado and freshman midfielder Ryan Hollingshead, and senior Brian Perk had a superb performance in goal, making a career-high 10 saves.

Maryland, the defending NCAA champions, came out swinging in the first half, outshooting the Bruins, 14-3. Perk made five saves to help keep the game scoreless at the half.

The second half was a different story, and the Bruins took a 1-0 lead at 76:48. The play started with a Michael Stephens corner kick that caused a scramble in the box. The ball was batted out by Maryland goalkeeper Zac MacMath but went to Alvarado, whose header made its way into the back of the net for his first career goal. Hollingshead doubled the lead at 82:21 with his first collegiate goal off a goalie rebound.

Perk had another five saves in the second half to bring his total to 10 for the game, just one off the school record of 11, held by four players, most recently Zach Wells in 2002. Perk moved into fifth place on UCLA's all-time saves list with 198 career saves.

"The game was a tale of two halves," said UCLA head coach Jorge Salcedo. "The first half we were nervous, anxious and impatient, and Maryland was playing well. Early in the season, we try to figure out what is the best system, formation and tactics for the group, and in the second half tonight, we found the right combo of players and the right system, and were the better team in the second half."

The Bruins next game is tomorrow afternoon against Georgetown (starting around 2:30 pm ET).  I will definitely try to be there to take in the blue and gold.

GO BRUINS.