Feb. 20, 2004

The UCLA men's soccer team defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer, 1-0, Thursday evening at The Home Depot Center. Bruin forward Eli Meschures scored the lone goal of the match in the 79th minute. UCLA was playing its first game under new head coach Jorge Salcedo, who played for present Galaxy head coach Sigi Schmid both as a collegian at UCLA and a professional with the Galaxy.

UCLA sophomore goalkeeper Nate Pena made numerous saves on many Galaxy scoring opportunities. Galaxy rookie midfielder Guillermo Azarte nearly got the hosts on the board in the 17th minute. First, he corralled a Chris Aloisi pass on the edge of the box in the right channel. Then, he quickly put his ensuing low right-footed blast on frame, but Pena dove to his right to keep the game scoreless.

After the two teams exchanged a couple of chances over the next quarter hour of the contest, Azarte again had a hand in a chance to put the Galaxy ahead, this time in the 34th minute. This time, he worked a give-and-go with fellow rookie Ned Grabavoy, only to see Pena again come up with a diving save.

The Galaxy brought in several of its regular starters in the 60th minute but was still unable to score. Carlos Ruiz, Major League Soccer's leading goal scorer in 2003, tested Pena in goal, but he too was denied several times by the UCLA keeper.

Meschures broke the scoreless tie in 79th minute. The redshirt freshman took a Chad Barrett pass from the right wing, beat a defender, and fired a low shot just past the out-stretched fingertips of Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman (UCLA, 1995-96) and into the lower left corner for the 1-0 lead.

"The performance by the guys was obviously tremendous," said Salcedo, who was hired as head coach on Feb. 6. "Playing against a team the caliber of the Galaxy was a true test of character and grit for us. We should be proud of our performance but also put it into perspective. We can single out numerous individuals, but the victory should be attributed to a wonderful team effort. We look forward to building from this great result."

UCLA will next play Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Feb. 28 in the first of two games in the LMU Tournament at Sullivan Field. The Bruins will face the host team at 9 am and then will play UC Irvine at 2 pm. Admission is $5.

Scoring Summary:
UCLA - Meschures (Barrett) '79

UCLA Lineup: Nate Pena - Brandon Owens, Jordan Harvey, Patrick Ianni (Taylor Canel '46), Aaron Lopez - Benny Feilhaber (Trini Gomez '78), Mike Enfield, Kiel McClung, Ryan Valdez - Ahmed Khalil (Phillip Harr '46 [ Eli Meschures '71 ]), Evan Corey.

Los Angeles Galaxy Lineup: Kevin Hartman - Brian Dunseth (Hong Myung Bo '60), Ryan Suarez (Danny Califf '60 [Jason Perry '66 - Chris Aloisi '75], Jason Perry (Paul Broome '60), Ricky Lewis - Chris Aloisi (Josh Gardner '60), Ned Grabavoy (Pete Vagenas '60), Matt Schmidt (Sasha Victorine '60), Diego Velasquez (Jovan Kirovski '60) - Guillermo Arzate (Joseph Ngwenya '60), Cobi Jones (Carlos Ruiz '60).