UCLA Men's Soccer: 2010 Season Primer
by OldSage on Sep 1, 2010 12:46 PM PDT
Email
PrintBumped. GO BRUINS. -N
....and the random musings of an admitted soccer madman.
Nestor asked if I would contribute and provide some commentary on the Men"s Soccer Program this year. With the team departing for Bloomington for this weekend's match-ups with Notre Dame and Indiana, I am throwing my hat into the ring with my very first attempt at a FanPost. So please bear with me!
In reading the preseason polls, and the few sparse comments on this blog and the BRO forum regarding this year's team, It appears there is a high degree of expectation for this year's version of a team. Call me a bit pessimistic, but I think we should temper our enthusiasm despite all the hype of this year's signing class and recognize that this team is very very young. Consider in last Saturday's scrimmage, the starting line-up had five freshmen and a sophomore transfer who has not played with the squad prior to this particular match. There are also some behind the scenes issues, Coach Salcedo is having to deal with that could have some impact on just how well the team performs.
More after the jump.
As for the starting line-up, what follows is who started where in last Saturday's friendly vs. the LA Blues. This may or may not approximate what happens this weekend but thought it useful to see what CJS and his staff are thinking. (names in parenthesis indicates the scrimmage substitutions).
LEFT FORWARD:
Andrew T (Raynr)(Collins)
RIGHT FORWARD:
V. Chavez (Foxhoven) (R. Williams)
ATTACKING CENTER MID: Hollingshead
LEFT MIDFIELD: Arreola (Roman)
RIGHT MIDFIELD: K. Rowe (Flitcroft)
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD: Rose
LEFT BACK: Singh (Reyes) (Yanez)
LEFT CENTERBACK: Sofia (Morales)
RiGHT CENTERBACK: Hukari
RIGHT BACK: Wiet (Zerrenner)
GOALKEEPER: B. Rowe (E. Edwards)
Based on the above, clearly the Bruin team has depth in most all positions with maybe the exception of Rose's Def Mid position. However, Hukari competed in the midfield in his club playing days so perhaps since we appear to have good numbers at the centerback position, Hukari could slot in there if needed.
A couple of guys were held out of Saturday's scrimmage due to some niggling injuries (i.e. Freshmen P. Matchett who would slot in most likely as a right back with Wiet/Zerrenner. Wiet also took a knock in Saturday's match and I'm unclear as to his status for the weekend (but I got to believe if the pre weekend match press release is correct, that he is playing vs. his old team in the Hoosiers)
Some notable absences from the above rotation that IMHO will impact the team this season are as follows:
- Juniors Chris Cummings and F. Monge who are rumored to be ineligible this season due to academics.
- Sophomore Chandler Hoffman with a broken leg that could sideline him until October. (Keep in mind, Chandler led all freshmen last season with 12 pts. and also contributed 2 GW goals and was arguably the team's rookie of the year.)
- Also appears freshmen B. McIntosh may be a candidate for a medical red-shirt year due to some issues thereby impacting the center midfield depth.
- The transfer of midfield play maker C. Vasquez to UCSB
- All ACC Freshman team/Duke transfer Kyle Bethel not ultimately rostered despite playing all last Spring with the Bruin squad
SideNote (and random musing #1) - IMHO - the signing class of 2008 is shaping up to be a bust with Lapnet, Vasquez, Schachetti gone and Monge and Cummings both ineligible if the street rumors are true. IMHO, Arreola needs to have a break-out season this year...Rose clearly was the gem of the class but he also had a quiet year last season due to him unfortunately being slowed by a foot injury most of the year. Reyes and Yanez have also been slow to break thru. Clearly, with only one senior starter (Singh), and and a very thin junior class, there is a huge burden on the freshmen class to produce right away.
Random Musing #2 - As far as this weekend is concerned, I get the feeling there may be a surprise or two as to who traveled and who did not. Having said that, what bears repeating is just how much of a transition year this is which I believe will be clearly evident this weekend. With almost half the starting line-up freshmen and but a single scrimmage with what is essentially a new team and competing against two teams that will have had a few more matches under their belt (consider Indiana has played 4 games including both Duke and the University of Denver in preseason friendlies), it will be interesting to see how well the Bruins stack up and if they are able to develop any rhythm as a team and nick a result.
In closing, I really do like this team but I am extremely disappointed in the junior class. I think the coaches have done a great job in recruiting the past couple of years not only just a great pool of talented players, but what appear on paper, good character guys as well. IMHO, I think it best we give these kids (and the coaches) some time (and it may very well be a year if one were to consider this season as an investment or rebuilding year) to develop these kids into a championship squad rather than create some unrealistic expectations out of the gate. Just saying.....
GO BRUINS!
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.
19 comments
|
2 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Here is to ...
Malcolm Jones, Dietrich Riley and rest of frosh. performing in their first UCLA game at the same level you just did this Fanpost. :-)
Thanks and Is there anyway to get these games
Would love to watch UCLA play soccer again.
Thanks for the post Oldsage, some of us, including me, are very interested in soccer.
I wanted to go but was out of town
Ugh, can’t type today.
Age in soccer
may not be as big of a factor, except in terms of physical shape. If they play well together it doesn’t matter how old they are…as long as they can run for 90 minutes and aren’t shrimps!
Any thoughts on why teams don’t use the sweeper anymore? Granted it makes for a more defensive mindset, but sometimes I think it is really appropriate with the right player.
Hope the younguns grow up quickly!
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Maybe not age but I would think experience matters
Playing on the road at ND and IN with the different speed of the college game has to be an adjustment for Freshman. Also, the Freshman are use to being the stars of their high school teams and it has to be adjustment going to being just another player. So maybe age does not make a difference but I have to think experience does.
I suppose
It all depends on the level of competition they’re used to, if they’ve been able to play against older players a lot, they may be better adjusted. That’s the thing, you can do that in soccer, even basketball to a certain degree, but not really in football…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Yeah
I think the inexperience and youth will hurt us in the short term, but won’t be as big of a deal by the end of the season and tournament. In the first month or so, it will probably give us issues, but shouldn’t define our season.
As for the sweeper, with players getting faster, the pace of play picking up and their skill in the ball, you need some sort of an offside trap to negate it and the sweeper makes it impossible to have an offside trap. Today’s players would tear apart a defense with a sweeper because they’d have a back line to attack, with several yards behind them to make runs into without any fear of being offside.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Sep 1, 2010 3:16 PM PDT up reply actions
Those are great points
I just like the sweeper position because I played it. We sucked at the offside trap, and I guess the other teams weren’t fast enough to take advantage of it.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
by tasser10 on Sep 1, 2010 9:02 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Concur Ryan!
I think you’re correct Ryan. The biggest adaptation the freshmen are faced with is the speed of play. That adaption will occur over the course of the season when they become accustomed to having to play quick and clean.
As to the physicality of the college gameI think the Bruins match up pretty well from a size standpoint, especially up the gut of the defense:
Rose is a big physical player at Defensive Mid (6’2 160).
Hukari is a freak of nature (6’6 205) and Sofia is also a big strong player (6’2 180).
Both freshmen should also put on a few pounds of muscle over season year if they are lifting in-season.
Looking forward to your thoughts Ryan on the men’s soccer squad over the course of the season as I have in past years.
I'll get in there with them when I can
but I’m hoping that you contribute with soccer posts as often as you can. You see more of the team than I do and posts like these are awesome.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Sep 2, 2010 11:43 AM PDT up reply actions
Nice post.
Is it “Raynr” (as he spelled it in high school) or “Rayner”?
Bleeding powderkeg blue and gold for 55 years. Go Bruins!
Thanks Digdog!
You are exactly right Digdog. I
t should be Raynr and I just made the correction.
It’s been a tough week. Earlier this week I couldn’t count (as evidenced in my “FIVE” freshmen fan shot), and now I can’t spell!
Have a great Holiday weekend all!
Good luck to our men's team...
Seems we’ve never had to struggle to field a talented team. It’s achieving the ultimate prize that evades us. You really have to earn it, and I hope our men’s team has what it takes to earn themselves a NC.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
