Boy do I love beating UCLA in soccer! Until about 2000, UCLA won about 90% of the time (since which time the series has been about even), so it'll take a while to square the ledger. Still, seven in a row is very impressive. And this year's edition of UCLA features Milan Iloski, who lit up SDSU last game for five goals, and who leads the nation in goals with 15. He's a master in flopping, and he drew at least two calls last night for incidents that were total nothings if they happened playing pick-up soccer in the park.
It was tough to watch the first half last night, as UCLA possessed the ball for minutes on end, helped by having their keeper come up to nearly midfield and participate as if he were a field player. (An exaggerated "sweeper-keeper" role.) This left Stanford a man short of covering everyone (and two short if they were keeping their own sweeper free ), and UCLA did well to play keep-away successfully. Yet as BC pointed out, UCLA only generated a handful of real chances. And per my 24-hour old memory, their best series of chances didn't generate an official shot on goal, as the Stanford defenders laid out to block the shots before they reached the keeper. But you can't score if you don't have the ball, and Stanford didn't get much going at all for the first 45 minutes.
Coach Gunn started the second half with three players who hadn't started the first half, which is a tact I don't recall seeing him use ever before. He substituted both of his forwards (last year's leading scorer, Zach Ryan and this year's super-frosh, Ousseni Bouda), as well as the one of the midfielders. (In the first half he tried a few different players at that midfielder position, and they all played uninspired soccer. The starter in that midfield position was step slow in taking a shot on a nice cross that should have led to a very good chance if not a goal, and this allowed the defender to break up the play. Once the starter went out, he didn't play again. One of the subs mishit a cross terribly and was later easily dispossessed of the ball. He, too, was consigned to purgatory for the remainder of the game. The second-half starter in that midfield position was a freshman, Cam Cilley, who hadn't played the first half. I believe he remained in the game for its duration.)
I wondered about the reasons Gunn made the changes, especially at forward. Was it because the starters were a bit lacking in effort? Had they become demoralized spending all their time chasing, and he wanted fresh legs? Perhaps he intended to rest them a bit for the final 30 minutes. Judging from what subsequently transpired, I also wondered if Gunn changed tactics, whereby he freed up more players to disrupt the endless possession of UCLA of the first half, at the cost of greater risk in the defensive end. (I couldn't discern whether tactical changes were made via what could be seen on the telecast. The announcers, unfortunately, were no help. They didn't even notice the line-up changes noted above.)
Whether by dint of fresh blood or fresh tactics, the second half started off totally different from the first. And it remained totally different for the remainder of the game. Stanford began to possess, and to build their attack with a series of passes, and UCLA resorted to much more "speculative" bombs from the back that our young defenders controlled very well. In keeping with what Gunn said in the story on GoStanford --
https://gostanford.com/news/2019/10/10/m...inner.aspx -- I began to expect Stanford to break through with the winner. Indeed, not too long before the winner, Bouda took a shot that hit the far post.
And with ten minutes left, euphoria! Unfortunately, the highlights do not show the entire sequence that resulted in the goal, but the series of passes, like another series shortly beforehand, was delightful to watch. And big, big props to Jared Gilbey for making the run to received the penultimate pass, and for putting the ball on Wehan's foot for an easy conversion. Previously I have been critical of Gilbey, or how he has been deployed, for having little impact. But he was prominent throughout the UCLA game, and he made some very nice passes that required good awareness of the situation on the field.
For making the NCAAs, the UCLA game was not must-win, but it was certainly very important, as the season is short. To retain the possibility of catching 4-0 Washington and winning the Pac-12 for the 6th year in a row, beating UCLA was essential.
Finally, the announcer mentioned that Tanner Beason, the injured captain, leader, and star, would be out for an extended period of time, but is not considered done for the year. Whatever the injury, it'll be tough for him to regain playing shape so as to be up to speed during the intense games at the end of the regular season or tournament, but it buoyed my spirits to hear there's a chance he will play again this season.
