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Men’s Soccer - it’s getting hotter in the kitchen!

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UCLA - Without a doubt, the Bruins were the most glaring omission from the 2017 NCAA Tournament field. A 7-10-1 overall record with a 4-6-0 mark in Pac-12 play halted UCLA's consecutive steak of NCAA Tournament appearances last year at thirty-four. The Bruins played a brutal schedule in 2017 that included contests on the road against Maryland, Georgetown, and Clemson in September which made it challenging for a team with a lot of newcomers to gel. It is also a fact that UCLA has had to deal with a lot of players leaving early over the past three seasons to enter the professional ranks which can impact team chemistry. It is great to have a roster that includes the level of talent that the UCLA recrutis usually have. However, the flip side of that is that it increases the likelyhood that they will depart early to enter the professional ranks. In addition, Bruin head coach Jorge Salcedo annually faces the daunting (while nice to have) challenge of merging the individual talents of a group of players with impressive resumes into a unified team. The Bruins never came together as a team last year. Instead of improving as the season progressed, UCLA lost five of their last six contests including a 3-1 loss on the road to San Diego, and Pac-12 losses to Stanford 5-1, California 3-1, and a season ending 4-0 loss to San Diego State. Salcedo pretty much summed things up after the loss to California when he stated, "We beat ourselves and that has been a theme throughout the season." He added, "It is such a bitter taste we all have because this group deserved more, but it will force us to take a long, hard look at all facets of our program." No matter how you spin it, UCLA's subpar record in 2017 raises questions about the heart of this group and whether they can gel and rebound as a team in 2018. Was the 2017 campaign just a blimp on the radar screen for one of the premier programs in the country or the signal of a downward trend?

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