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.

Photo Credit: The UCLA Magazine

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1984 was a special year for Los Angeles when the city hosted what many considered the Olympic games that truly transformed and revolutionized modern day Olympics. Paul Feinberg has a great article in the UCLA Magazine recalling the "golden days" of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games:

The Los Angeles Games revolutionized the modern Olympics and transformed the way in which the international competitions are hosted. From the first trans-American Olympic Torch Relay (which began in New York City and concluded in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with Bruin Olympian Rafer Johnson '59 bearing the flame) to the financing, which not only eschewed government funding, but actually turned a profit, exceeding $200 million.

And guess which institution was kind of in the center of it all.

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via www.trackshark.com

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In a somewhat bittersweet piece of news, it was announced today that the head coach of UCLA's men's track and field program, Art Venegas, will not be retained.

One of the nation's premier throws coaches, Venegas led the Bruins to one Pac-10 team championship and two West Region team titles during his decade as the Bruin head coach. In 2009, the Bruins placed fifth at the Pac-10 championships and seventh at the West Regional. They did not score a point at the NCAA championships last month. His contract expired on June 30.

Now, I admire our athletic department's pursuit of excellence. At UCLA, merely being adequate isn't good enough and a move like this makes that clear. On the other side, Venegas is a man who has been with the program for 27 years, the last 10 as head coach. He is also one of the nicest men you will ever meet. He is a truly a great human being, but his job was to compete for national championships and he was no longer doing that. Because of that, I believe the athletic department did the right thing here.

"We appreciate everything Art has done for the program during his 28 years as both an assistant and head coach," said Toth. "But we felt a change in leadership was necessary for the program at this time.

"Art is the preeminent throws coach in the nation. We extended an offer to him to remain on the staff to coach our throwers, but he declined."

Venegas joined the UCLA staff for the 1982 season and served as an assistant coach for 16 years before to becoming head coach prior to the 2000 season. For most of his tenure in Westwood, he coached both the men and women throwers, producing numerous Pac-10 and NCAA champions, as well as Olympians.

While I'd have like Venegas to have stayed on and coach the throwers, I can't blame him in any way for not. At the end of the day though, he just wasn't getting it done and it was time to move on. That doesn't mean I won't hope for the best for Venegas. A man who has devoted so much to the program, the sport and the university, all while being a great man is someone I will be rooting for in the future. We'll miss you Art.

Well 4th of July is just about a week away. So consider this an extended preparty celebration of the Red, White and Blue here on Bruins Nation.

We have already talked about the UCLA angle in today's team USA's quest to pull of another miracle on grass. The heart and soul of the Yank's defense is none other than a UCLA alum : Captain Carlos Bocanegra (number 3):

Photo Credit: Jamie McDonald/Getty Images via katnguyen2's photostream (flickr)

Carlos is not the only Bruin representing the four letters in Red, White & Blue. UCLA alums Benny Feilhaber, Jonathan Bornstein, and Marvell Wynne have also been contributing to Team USA's magic carpet ride down in South Africa.

Today's final match against Brazil (which is the Yankees of world soccer) will be a ginormous challenge. However, per the LAT we might have a shot. Apparently Brazil which has stars pretty much in every position hasn't been showing its usual flair of playmaking abilities all over the field.

For more on the game here is ESPN's preview and if you are not around a television you can watch it on ESPN360.com. It all gets started on WWL around 2:30 pm EST.

We will be following the action in our game thread here. So once again you know what to do. Fire away. GO BRUINS and ...

USA! USA! USA!

You think 13-9 was big? To me in some ways this news is even a bigger deal. Carlos Bocanegra (Bruin Alum and the team captain of US Soccer team) along with two other Bruins helped the Stars and Stripes put together one of the biggest victories in the history of American soccer and perhaps one of the more memorable upsets in the history of the game. The Yanks just beat European Champion, the number 1 ranked Soccer team in the world, Spain in the semifinal round of Confederations Cup in South Africa.

From our official site which is splashing the story all over their home page:

In a stunning upset, the U.S. National Team shut out World No. 1 Spain, 2-0, in the semifinals of the FIFA Confederations Cup on Wednesday, advancing to Sunday's final against the winner of Brazil and South Africa.

UCLA soccer alumni Carlos Bocanegra, Benny Feilhaber and Jonathan Bornstein contributed to the win, with team captain Bocanegra starting at left back and playing all 90 minutes, Feilhaber setting up the team's second goal and Bornstein coming in as a late sub to help preserve the shutout. Marvell Wynne is also on the U.S. team but did not play in Wednesday's game.

Jozy Altidore gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead with a goal in the 25th minute, and Feilhaber helped increase the lead to 2-0 in the 74th minute, just minutes after entering the game as a sub. Feilhaber dribbled up midfield and sent a through ball to Landon Donovan on the right side. Donovan's cross into the box found Clint Dempsey after deflecting off the foot of a Spanish defender, and Dempsey finished for his second goal in as many games.

The U.S. defense came up big, with goalkeeper Tim Howard making eight saves in the game. Bocanegra made his first appearance in the tournament after sitting out the first three games with a hamstring injury and his first start at left back for the U.S. in two years.

Simply unbelievable stuff. Here are the highlights via WWL:

The AP wire has the following from Bocanegra:

"I think it just shows that we can compete with the best. Now we need to do it on a consistent basis," U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra said.

Some more data points on how historic the win was for Carlos and his team-mates:

Not only was it just the second win ever for the U.S. against a team ranked No. 1 in the world (the U.S. had been 1-7-1 against top-ranked teams, with the only win coming against Brazil in 1998 in the CONCACAF Gold Cup), but it also ended Spain's FIFA-record 15-game win streak and 35-game unbeaten streak. Altidore's goal was the first allowed by Spain in 451 consecutive minutes.

Steve Davis from ESPN has more on how the Bruins and their team-mates sent shock waves all over Europe today. They get to sit back and bask in the glory a bit till Sunday when they will take on the winner of the other semifinal between Brazil and South Africa. I hate to use a cliche but after today's incredible win pretty much anything it's possible at this point and its awesome to see all of it taking place under the leadership of a Bruin.

GO BRUINS.

UPDATE (N): More on the match from our SBN friends at Global Futbol. GO BRUINS.

In case you missed it Bruin great Carlos Bocanegra saved the day yesterday for Team USA.

UCLA alum Carlos Bocanegra, who also happens to be the captain of team USA, scored the game winner in a huge game against Honduras last night in Chicago.

Stars and Stripes fell behind early (for the third time in last four games) when Honduras scored in the first 5 mins. But our boys chipped away and it was UCLA alum Bocanegra who scored the game winner a spectacular diving effort in the second half. From WWL:

Clint Dempsey flubbed a backheel five minutes in, Honduras pounced on it and the United States fell behind early for the second time in four days.

"Here we go again," U.S. captain Carlos Bocanegra thought.

Only this time, for the first time in 24 years, the Americans came from behind to win a World Cup qualifier.

Landon Donovan converted a penalty kick in the 43rd minute and Bocanegra scored on a diving header off Dempsey's knock-down header in the 68th Saturday night for a key 2-1 victory over Honduras.

"If we don't respond and win this game, we're going to be in a bad position. Now we're halfway through, in second place," Donovan said. "Right now we're in good position."

Read the full ESPN report here.

Just awesome to see a Bruin leading USA as the team captain and then coming through with the game winner. Gave me the chills while watching the second half last night.

GO BRUINS.

... by taking swift action against UCLA's tennis program:

The Pac-10 has penalized UCLA's men's tennis program for allowing a player to compete while ineligible during the 2008 season, which resulted in Southern California being declared the conference champion.

The Pac-10 said Friday that the Bruins must forfeit all singles and doubles matches in which the player participated last season.

As a result, team results of UCLA's matches against USC and Arizona State were reversed and the final team standings adjusted. USC wound up with a 7-0 record, while the Bruins dropped into a second-place tie with Stanford at 5-2.

UCLA self-reported the violation and here is the schools' statement via Dohn:

The men's tennis student-athlete involved was earning money working at a job. The employer paid his student fees, thinking it was okay because the student-athlete would be earning the money to cover the fees.
When the UCLA compliance office found out that the employer had paid the student fees in advance, it reported the situation to the NCAA and the Pac-10 Conference. The NCAA reinstated the student-athlete's eligibility, deciding the employment and the rate of pay appropriate, and required him to pay a portion of the fee value to a charity. The student-athlete was eligible to compete in the 2008-09 season and did so.
The Pac-10 Compliance and Enforcement Committee requested the student-athlete forfeit his singles and doubles matches in Pac-10 competition in 2007-08. That action was approved by the Pac-10 Council. The changes in scores ultimately changed the final results of UCLA's matches versus USC and Arizona State from wins to losses.

Wow Pac-10! What a bunch of tough law and order guys. That will teach rest of the conference on how to follow the rules!

There is just so many ways to mock Tom Hansen's band of clowns given what has transpired at a certain renegade program last few years.

Just another data point on why this has been the worst managed major conference in college athletics during the tenure of an incompetent, out of touch, tone deaf commissioner.

GO BRUINS.

It's a big baseball/softball Sunday here on Bruins Naiton during the long Memorial Day Weekend. Let's start with softball. Our ladies dropped a tough game in their first match against Missouri Tigers yesterday at the Easton Stadium. They lost by a score of 1-2.

So they come back today with the proverbial backs agains the wall. They take on the Tigers today in Game 2, which starts around 12:30 p.m. It will be on ESPNU. Hopefully they can come through the first game:

Photo Credit: UCLA Softball (flickr)

If the get it done in the first game, they will play Game 3, which will start 30 minutes after Sunday's first contest. You can follow the action via the gametracker on official site.

Meanwhile, as rye noted below the baseball team will close out their season today against ASU. They evened the series last night with a big win. First pitch for that game is scheduled for 1 pm PDT. As always, you can follow along with the Bruins on GameTracker via the official site. You can also get game updates, Bruins in the pros updates, updates on UCLA commits, thoughts on rye's UCLA baseball tweeter feed.

Enjoy the games. If you are tracking the scores, please consider posting them on game threads here so rest of us can follow along on our phones. Fire away.

GO BRUINS.