New Mexico Pulls Rank on UCLA Soccer Team

Before New Mexico’s upset of the previously unbeaten UCLA soccer team on Friday, Coach Klaus Weber felt the time was ideal for the unranked Lobos to make a statement.

Having exceeded Klaus’ expectations in completing a tough run in its schedule, New Mexico was playing at home for the first time in a month.

“Any team that plays seven straight on the road and only loses one game has to feel good,” Weber said. “We knew we had a good team.”

New Mexico beat the Bruins, 1-0, and was awarded a No. 23 ranking on Tuesday.

UCLA Coach Sigi Schmid felt the No. 2 Bruins (9-1-1) did not finish off their chances, outshooting the Lobos, 11-4.

“More than any other sport, soccer is the one game that a team can dominate throughout and still lose,” Schmid said.”

“Sometimes having a loss gives your team a chance to get a taste of something they’ll want to avoid at all cost in the future.”

UCLA went on to beat Nevada Las Vegas, 1-0, on Sunday.

The Bruins will play Davidson on Friday night at 8 at El Camino College and Southern Methodist on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the UCLA North Soccer Field as part of the eighth annual UCLA adidas/MetLife Pacific Classic.

Davidson (6-2-3), making its first trip ever to the West Coast, has the nation’s fourth-leading scorer in senior forward Rob Ukrop, who has 14 goals and four assists. A second team All-American two years ago before missing last season because of a broken leg, Ukrop is particularly effective with his back to the goal and has scored equally with shots from either foot.

“He’s a determined player who does not enjoy losing,” Davidson Coach Charlie Slagle said.

Southern Methodist, ranked No. 15 with a 8-2-1 record, has a potent offensive attack. The Mustangs defeated Tulsa, 6-1, on Friday and beat Arkansas-Little Rock, 9-3, on Saturday. In the two games, senior midfielder Johnny Reynolds scored four goals.

Against Arkansas-Little Rock, SMU used the maximum 18 players allowed by NCAA rules and still went on to hit the goal post four times. As a rule, SMU Coach Schellas Hyndman does not run up the score and had his defenders playing at forward positions in the second half of the game.

“In the past, our teams have traditionally started playing its best in the first week in October,” said Hyndman, who is in his ninth season as Mustang coach. “This year we were a week late.”

The last two times UCLA played SMU (1985 and ‘90), the Bruins won the NCAA championship.

Notes

The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team (5-11, 1-2 in the West Coast Conference) will play host to St. Mary’s on Friday and San Francisco on Saturday. Both matches start at 7 p.m. University of San Francisco (9-6, 1-3) had a school-record seven-match winning streak heading into league play. St. Mary’s (5-14, 1-3) was 1-13 in WCC play last year. In Pacific 10 Conference play, top-ranked UCLA (13-0, 8-0) travels to No. 6 USC (12-2, 7-1) for a 7:30 p.m. match Friday. Bruin junior setter Julie Bremmer leads the nation in assists a game with a 14.3 average.

Coach Guy Baker’s No. 6 UCLA water polo team (5-4) will play host to top-ranked California on Friday at 3 p.m. at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. Last year, the Bruins gave the two-time defending NCAA champion Bears their only loss of the season. Fourth-ranked Pepperdine (8-5) plays hosts No. 9 UC San Diego on Friday at 4 p.m. and visits No. 5 UC Irvine at the Heritage Park Pool on Saturday at 1 p.m. Senior driver Henry Rabello, a second-team All-American last season, leads the Waves in scoring with 29 goals.

Pepperdine won the men’s and women’s division at the Southern California College cross-country invitational Saturday. Junior Jason Kite led the men’s team with a second-place finish in 27 minutes 42 seconds over the 8-K course. Wave freshman Shannon Rodgers finished the 5-K women’s race in third at 21:10. Pepperdine plays host to USC for a dual meet Saturday at the Stotsenberg track. The 5-K women’s race starts at 9:30 a.m. and the men’s 4 1/2-mile race begins at 10:15 a.m. The UCLA men’s and women’s teams will race at the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Mustang Invitational on Saturday.

The Pepperdine men’s golf team, preseason ranked No. 19 nationally, will compete in the Stanford Shoot-Out this weekend. A total of 24 teams are scheduled to compete in the three-day tournament which begins on Saturday. The Waves return its top three players from last season, including junior Todd Andrews, who tied for second place in last year’s West Coast Conference Championships.