Bruins Dominate LMU 4-1, Win Fourth Straight

LOS ANGELES – No. 22 UCLA extended its winning streak to a season-best four straight with a 4-1 rout of Loyola Marymount on Saturday night at Wallis Annenberg Stadium.

The Bruins (9-4) came out firing in the first half, taking an early 2-0 lead and dominating the run of play before LMU (5-9) took advantage of a turnover in the defensive third to make it a one-goal game heading into the halftime break.

However, UCLA returned to controlling the match in the second half, potting another pair of goals to secure the win in fairly comfortable fashion. At the end of the night, the Bruins outshot the Lions 17-4, including an 11-2 edge in shots on frame, while matching a season-high for single-game goals.

"It was a really good performance by our team tonight," said UCLA head coach Jorge Salcedo. "We created a lot of goal-scoring opportunities and our ball movement, the pace in our passing, and our movement off the ball were all good. We could have been up more than a goal after the first half, so getting that third goal was the biggest difference in the game."

In just the fifth minute of the game, senior midfielder Joab Santoyo put the Bruins ahead with his first goal of the year. After some solid build-up play, sophomore forward Milan Iloski played a ball from the top of the box down the right wing for Santoyo, who got a step on his defender for a 1-v-1 with the keeper before slotting low and finding the back of the net.

The Bruins created a pair of solid scoring opportunities after Santoyo's opener – Iloski just missed a rebound of a Matt Hundley scorcher in the 17^th minute, then set up Santiago Herrera for a left-footed curler from 20 yards out a few minutes later – but didn't double their lead until the 31:53 mark.

Less than two minutes after entering the game, junior forward Mohammed Kamara won a ball in the midfield to spring a counter, then found Hundley in the offensive third with a pass. Hundley eventually squared up for a right-footed shot, and got a break as his defender stepped up to try and block the shot but ended up slightly deflecting it and sending it into the top-right corner of the net.

With LMU mustering just one shot to that point, it came a bit out of nowhere when the visitors pulled back a goal in the 35^th minute, as the Lions took advantage of a deep turnover, with Ryan Bishop getting down the left wing and then sending in a cross to the middle of the box, where Kris Fourcand re-directed the pass into the net from about eight yards out.

Kamara gave the Bruins a cushion in the 54^th minute with his fifth goal of the season, out-muscling his defenders on a long ball over the top to earn a breakaway before finishing past LMU keeper Paul Lewis with a low left-footed shot.

At the 59:21 mark, Hundley put the game out of reach and recorded the second two-goal game of his freshman season with a perfectly-executed free kick from just outside the 18. Kamara was instrumental in that goal as well, weaving through LMU defenders before drawing a foul at the edge of the box. Hundley, who was set up to the keeper's left, drilled his shot into the top right corner.

UCLA had further chances to pad their lead – especially in the 76^th minute when Iloski won a 50-50 ball downfield to get a partial breakaway, chipped the keeper, but had his goal-bound shot cleared off the line – but the Hundley free kick ended up as the game's final tally.

UCLA keeper Justin Garces was rarely tested, but came up with a Grade-A save in the dying minutes of the first half, punching aside a 25-yard volley from Danny Garcia to preserve what at that point was a one goal lead. The freshman recorded two saves overall for the evening.

The Bruins, who are 4-1 in Pac-12 play and sit just one point behind first place Stanford with a game in hand, return to league action next week, traveling to the Pacific Northwest for critical games at Washington on Thursday and Oregon State on Sunday. Both contests will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.