Men's soccer hosts No. 5 UCLA, San Diego St.
OSU wants to rebound from 0-2 weekend, get first Pac-10 win
Casey Grogan
Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: Sports
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The Beavers (5-9-1 overall, 0-7-0 Pacific-10) are looking to pick up their first Pac-10 victory of the season against two strong teams. The Beavers are coming off a two-loss weekend against Cal and Stanford, but hope things will be different this weekend.
"We are going to go out there and work our hardest," midfielder Collin Foster said.
The Beavers defense will be with out defender Alex Christiansen for the final four games of the season, as he suffered a season-ending ankle injury for the second straight season.
"Alex's accident was very unlucky and we all are there to support him," Foster said. "We will have somebody new step in, but nothing really changes everyone has the same jobs. Somebody new will have to fill AC's spot."
UCLA (8-3-2 overall, 3-1-1 Pac-10) has had Oregon State's number with a 14-4 all-time record against the Beavers. OSU, however is 4-2 against the Bruins on Lorenz Field.
After a bye week, the Bruins look to make up for a long list of injuries to key players as they take the pitch against the Beavers. Despite being injured since Sept. 22, forward Maxwell Griffin leads UCLA in scoring with five goals. The active leading scorers for UCLA include forward Jason Leopaldo and David Estrada with two goals apiece.
Keeper Eric Reed posts a 5-3-1 record with two shutouts on the year. The Bruins have outscored opponents 23-16 on the year despite being outshot. The Bruins defeated the Beavers 2-1 earlier in the season with goals from Kyle Nakazawa and Leopaldo.
"We have been working hard all week [for UCLA]," Foster said. "I expect that we go out and work hard. We know what needs to be done."
Sunday the Beavers play host to the San Diego State Aztecs (7-5-1 overall, 3-2 Pac-10). The Aztecs will play University of Washington on Friday before heading south to meet with OSU.
The Aztecs, who are fairly new to Pac-10 soccer, already have more victories than last season's.
After a 2-1 victory against the Beavers earlier in the season the Aztecs tied the all-time series at three games apiece with OSU. The Aztecs out shot Oregon State 17-8 in the match, with Kraig Chiles and Omar Persad netting goals.
SDSU is lead by the dynamic duo of forward Andrew DiCicco and midfielder Kraig Chiles. and keeper Tally Hall, who has 53 saves and four shutouts on the year.
"We don't focus on SDSU's individual players," Foster said. "Instead we focus on ourselves and what we need to do to be successful."
The Aztecs, like UCLA, have been battling injuries on the season; the Friday game against UW will mark the first time since September 29 that SDSU will be at full strength.
"I think the mentality for the team is to fight until the end, wherever that may take us," Foster said.
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