UCLA Bruins Men’s Soccer Looks to Keep Home Field vs. Oregon State

The UCLA Bruins look to keep their home cooking going when they host the 5-3-2 Oregon State Beavers.

Last Time Out

The Bruins returned home from splitting their PAC-12 opener up North and beat the Washington Huskies by a tally of 1-0 to improve to 6-4, and 2-1 in conference play.

The story in that contest was goalkeeper Justin Garces. He notched a clean sheet versus a very tough Washington offense, saving four shots for his second shutout of the season.

Sophomore forward Milann Iloski scored the game-winning goal in the 23rd minute off of a beautiful free kick from 20-yards out. Washington’s goalkeeper was very slow to react, allowing the shot to one hop right passed him into the left corner. Good stuff indeed.

This was a critical win for the Bruins, who were reeling just a little bit before conference play began. To shutout one of the better offenses in the Pac-12 is quite a feat.

Oregon State Beavers

Much like the Washington Huskies, the Oregon State Beavers love to go on the counter attack, illustrated by their 14.5 shots per contest.

The Beavers score nearly 2 goals per game, and they will provide another difficult test for the Bruins defenders. On the season, they’ve scored 9 goals in the second half of games, and their shots skyrocket to 71 attempts total in the second half. What’s more notable is the fact that their opponents have only shot 53 times in the second half of games. This means that Oregon State has a flair for the dramatics, to say the least.

Although they’ve only played 3 games on the road this season (1-2), it’ll be interesting to see just how aggressive the Beavers play in the opening half.

Outlook

Again, the UCLA Bruins have their work cut out for them, but this is a very winnable game for them. This is a great opportunity to win and rest up before their next game at San Diego State on October 13th.

Go Bruins!