High-Scoring, Back and Forth Affair Ends in Defeat for UCLA Men's Soccer

The Bruins hadn't allowed multiple goals since they lost their season opener back on Aug. 26.

They allowed four Thursday night, and they lost this time around too.

No. 23 UCLA men's soccer (6-3-0, 2-1-0 Pac-12) held multiple leads against Oregon State (5-1-1, 1-0-0), only to lose the away match 4-3. It most the most combined goals scored in a game the Bruins played so far in 2021, standing in opposition to the mostly low-scoring contests they had played in to this point.

The three goals scored were also the second-most by UCLA's offense this fall – last time they scored that many, they won though.

Scoring goals wasn't the Bruins' problem Thursday night, it was allowing them.

Oregon State opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, but didn't get another shot on goal for the rest of the half. UCLA answered not long after in the 32nd minute, starting a string of three unanswered goals.

The first one came off an attack that started in the middle of the field, and then moved down to the left side of the box. Graduate midfielder Yoni Sorokin tracked it down, paused and sent it across the box, with senior forward Kevin Diaz tricking the defense with a dummy and freshman forward Jose Contell putting it away to knot things up.

32' | All tied up!

Jose Contell caps off a solid attacking sequence by the Bruins, finding the back of the net for his second goal of the year.

(That dummy by @kevvdiaz6 though 😍)

📲 | https://t.co/P0XMb9b7fh #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/UhUVNG6k0P
— UCLA Men's Soccer (@UCLAMSoccer) October 1, 2021

Four minutes later, UCLA picked up another goal to take the lead, this time off of a diving Diaz header set up by a laser sent deep by sophomore defender Tommy Silva.

36' | UCLA GOAL!!

And just like that, the Bruins have gone ahead! Kevin Diaz got his head on the cross here, putting UCLA up with his third goal of the year.

📲 | https://t.co/P0XMb9b7fh #GoBruins | @kevvdiaz6 pic.twitter.com/4skJJquDCq
— UCLA Men's Soccer (@UCLAMSoccer) October 1, 2021

The Bruins' third and final goal came off a 3-on-3 counter attack in the 63rd minute.

Freshman defender Aaron Edwards slid and got the ball back to Diaz, who passed at the last second to junior midfielder Riley Ferch. Working a 1-on-1 with the keeper, Ferch slipped it under him to make it a two-goal lead.

63' | UCLA GOAL!!

The Bruins convert on the counter-attack, and have now scored three in a row to take the two-goal lead!

UCLA 3, OSU 1

📲 | https://t.co/gzmOSqhVrE #GoBruins | @FerchRiley pic.twitter.com/d9xm2Ap00M
— UCLA Men's Soccer (@UCLAMSoccer) October 1, 2021

That's where the Bruins' offensive output ended, however, and the Beavers got back into it by peppering senior goalkeeper Justin Garces with the most shots he's faced in a match all season.

Garces saved one of two shots on goal in the first half, and then three out of six in the second. Oregon State attempted 10 shots total in the final 45 minutes.

All the Beavers needed was a couple minutes to take the lead, scoring three goals in a three-minute span. Garces was allowing an average of 0.77 goals before Oregon State rung him up for four on Thursday.

The Bruins had chances to tie late in the game, and they stayed in it until the very end thanks to Garces' final save in the 85th, but Silva's three scoring chances wound up going wide in the 74th, high in the 82nd and saved in the 85th.

This was the time the Bruins played as a ranked team since 2018, and it ended in defeat thanks to the high-scoring game of runs.

UCLA will have a chance to salvage a conference road split when it travels to Eugene for a meeting with Washington on Sunday.

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