University of Washington
UCLA
Top 25 Teams Battle In Los Angeles
October 01, 2010 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 1, 2010
LOS ANGELES - The No. 23 ranked UW men's soccer team fell in a tough battle in the Pac-10 opener in Los Angeles to the No. 13 ranked UCLA Bruins, 1-0. The Huskies are now 6-2-1 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
Joe Sofia scored the winning goal on a header off of a corner kick in the ninth minute on an assist by Kelyn Rowe.
"We went behind in the ninth minute and that's something we didn't want to do down here," said head coach Dean Wurzberger. "They started fast. To play down here you have to have it firing on all cylinders. We were defensively sound and had moments where shots where equal but in the penalty areas they were a bit sharper than us. We had chances in the second half but we couldn't convert. We need to be sharper and score on our chances. We know we have a lot of games still to play and we look forward to getting back on the winning column on Sunday."
Washington had several good chances to score in the game, including in the 57th minute on a free kick in the box. In the 66th minute, senior Matt Van Houten (Portland, Ore.) had a one-on-one with the Bruin goalkeeper Brian Rowe, but Rowe made the save. Daniel Gray, Dylan Tucker-Gangnes and Jamie Finch all took great shots late in the game for the Dawgs.
The Huskies took 14 shots, six on goal, led by junior Brent Richards with two on goal.
Stephen Fung was in goal for the Dawgs, making six saves. He is 4-1-1 on the season.
Washington looks for its first win in conference play on Sunday at No. 22 San Diego State at 1 p.m.
