UCLA men's soccer stumbles early, crumbles late in season opener versus Lipscomb

Tucker Lepley's first career goal was not enough for the Bruins to stave off the Bisons on Thursday

The opening match for the Bruins spotlighted a similar result to their final match last season – defeat.

UCLA men’s soccer (0-1) dropped its first game of the season to Lipscomb (1-0) by a score of 2-1 Thursday night, marking the first time the program has dropped a season opener since the 2012 season against New Mexico. The Bruins were playing at home, as a Pac-12 team hosting one from the Atlantic Sun, but the on-paper advantages did not translate to victory.

Kickoff in Westwood signaled a clean slate after last campaign’s 3-7-2 record, but the match went south from the start.

In the fourth minute, a scramble of players near the net landed the Bisons their first goal of the season and of the game, as forward Burl Shepherd slotted a shot off of senior goalkeeper Justin Garces that barely crossed over the goal line and put UCLA down one.

The early goal put a noticeable deflation in the home crowd, but the fans at Wallis Annenberg Stadium had something to cheer for in the 33rd minute.

In both their debuts for the Bruins, graduate student midfielder Yoni Sorokin found redshirt freshman midfielder Tucker Lepley on the right-hand side of the box. After a tricky dribbling move from Lepley to get past two defenders towards goal, he struck the ball into the bottom-left corner for the game-tying – and his first collegiate – score.

Lepley provided the Bruin faithful with an exciting moment in a match for which there was very little happening for the home side.

In the second half, Lipscomb provided more of a threat with the ball, outshooting UCLA 4-3. The Bruins’ substitutions brought fresh blood to start the new 45, but Lipscomb outplayed UCLA with their forwards late Thursday night.

Goal scoring opportunities were hard to come by for UCLA, on the other hand, with only one true chance to take the lead in the 73rd minute.

Redshirt freshman forward Jose Contell was played in on goal with just the Lipscomb goalkeeper to beat, but his shot flew inches over the crossbar and he came up empty.

The shot from Contell could have given the Bruins enough of a cushion to bank on leaving with at least a draw, but instead, their backs were up against the wall in the final stretch. In the 83rd minute, Bison forward Hayes Wood collected his first effort after his shot was blocked from freshman defender Pietro Grassi. Wood made good on his intentions of putting the ball in the net with his second strike, gifting the Bisons a 2-1 lead late in the match.

That would be enough room to hold off the Bruins for the remaining minutes.

Lipscomb out-fouled UCLA 14-10, and the match delivered three yellow cards, one of which went to the Bruins’ junior forward Ollie de Visser.

UCLA has a chance to even out its record Sunday at 3 p.m. against San Francisco. The match will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.

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