University of Washington
UCLA
A Night Of Firsts In Win At No. 8 UCLA
October 08, 2012 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 8, 2012
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Washington 2 - No. 8 UCLA 1 |
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It was a night of records and firsts for the Huskies as senior transfer Nate Sackeyfio and freshman Michael Gallagher scored their first career goals as Huskies.
Washington picked up its first true road win of the season and snapped UCLA's 16-game winning streak in Pac-12 play, dating back to Oct. 24, 2010 in a 1-0 loss to Cal in OT.
Sackeyfio's goal was just the second goal allowed in first 45 minutes of a game this season for UCLA. It was also just the second time the Bruins allowed more than one goal in a game this year.
UCLA had gone unbeaten against the Huskies in the previous eight meetings, winning the last five. The last Husky win over the Bruins was a 1-0 victory in LA in 2007. It was the first win for Washington head coach Jamie Clark as a Husky over UCLA.
The Huskies handed UCLA just its second loss of the season and first since opening weekend, a 3-2 loss at the hands of New Mexico.
"UCLA is a fantastic team," said Clark. "Their winning streak had to come to an end at some point and I'm just glad it was us that did it."
Sackeyfio (Seattle, Wash.) scored the games' first goal in the 13th minute to put the Huskies up 1-0 heading into the half. Junior Michael Harris (Shoreline, Wash.) made a flip throw and senior Quinton Beasley (Camas, Wash.) and Sackeyfio battled with defenders to win the ball. Sackeyfio won it and struck the ball hard from 25 yards out to the upper right corner.
"Coach always says to be opportunistic and shoot so when the ball dropped I just turned and smashed it," Sackeyfio said.
While the Bruins put heavy pressure on the Husky defense the final 20 minutes of the first half, junior goalkeeper Spencer Richey (Seattle, Wash.) made great saves to keep UCLA out of the net. The best shot in the first 45 minutes for the Bruins came with just under eight minutes left but Richey dove right to push the ball wide.
Richey made five saves in the game and after the match said, "Playing good teams like UCLA you're going to have to weather a few storms throughout the game. I thought we did that really well tonight."
In his halftime interview with the Pac-12 Networks, Clark said, "I don't think we played very well and we can't be happy play-wise but we have to be happy result-wise. We have to capitalize, do something better, be braver and play with conviction."
A minute and a half into the second half the Huskies had two good shots from senior Abdul Aman (Seattle, Wash.) and led the attack early in the period.
In the 59th minute, Harris got another chance for a long throw-in just in front of the Husky bench. The ball bounced off of a UCLA head, flew out of the box and senior Patrick Pacheco (Taos, N.M.) took a shot that hit the right post. Off the post, Gallagher (Sammamish, Wash.) put one touch on the ball and was wide open to tap the ball into the left side of the goal.
"It's always a threat in the attacking half," Harris said of his flip throw. "Tonight we tried to use our size against them to create chances on set pieces. On the second goal they didn't clear it all the way and Pacheco kept the ball alive and Gallagher ended up putting it away."
UCLA got on the board to deny the Huskies the shutout in the 71st minute. Evan Raynr scored just in front of the left side of the net after a one-touch by Ryan Hollingshead and a chip from Max Estrada.
The Huskies return home to host Cal on the Pac-12 Networks at 3 p.m. on Friday.
