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By Amanda Fletcher

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

If the two exhibition games the No. 3 UCLA men’s soccer team played last week were supposed to forecast their progress going into pre-season competition, the outlook is still cloudy.

After defeating Westmont College 3-0 on Wednesday, it seemed as if there was nothing but blue skies ahead.

With one freshman and two seniors taking care of the scoring, the Bruins looked like they had figured out how to blend their veteran talent with their new talent.

But a storm rolled in when UCLA fell to Loyola Marymount 2-1 on Saturday.

With 10 incoming freshmen and one junior transfer, the big issue for the team is getting everyone on the same page.

And things were looking good against Westmont. Six freshmen started and over half the team was rotated in.

Old and new combined when senior Shaun Tsakiris and freshman forward Adolfo Gregorio did a quick give-and-go to put UCLA on the board in the sixth minute.

“I was a little nervous at first,” Gregorio said. “After a couple touches and after the first five minutes I started playing my game.

“It calmed us down for the first game.”

Two more goals came before half-time with Tsakiris assisting senior McKinley Tennyson, Jr. on one and scoring another himself.

“For a first game, I’m very pleased. They did what they needed to do in the first half,” said head coach Todd Saldaña. “The guys that started went into a lull. That’s why we brought a lot of people off the bench. The game wasn’t over to them.”

Game two against LMU saw much of the same thing. The Bruins came out strong in the first half, but were unable to put the ball away.

“In the first half I was satisfied with the effort,” Saldaña said. “We knew it was going to be physical and we managed that well.”

Midway through the second half, UCLA jumped ahead when Gregorio slotted the ball through a hole to freshman Matt Taylor, who chipped it in past LMU goalkeeper Jerad Bailey.

The Lions didn’t stay down for long, quickly striking back with a goal of their own. After that the Bruin defense broke down and the Lions put away the game-winner.

Though there were some close opportunities in the final minutes, a win just wasn’t in the trajectory.

“The younger players are a little naive to think that goal chances will keep coming,” Saldaña said. “They don’t have the experience of knowing how tight college games are.”

With a tournament in Bloomington, Ind. against Butler and top-ranked Indiana this weekend, the freshmen will definitely get the experience they need.

As for the returning players, they no doubt remember the last time they faced Indiana when the Bruins lost 3-2 in quadruple overtime in the NCAA semifinals last year.

“There’s a rivalry and tradition, at least for the past four years I’ve been here,” Tsakiris said.

Despite the tough competition headed their way, with the regular season still weeks away, it’s still all about the chemistry for the men’s soccer team.

“If it was all there now, I think I’d be worried,” Saldaña said. “You want to hit your stride at the end of the season. The goal is just to keep progressing.”

The five-day forecast may not be too clear, but as the season continues, conditions should improve.