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Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Eric Conner dives for a ball during men’s soccer practice. Th

Despite tying No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Indiana a little over a week ago in an exhibition match, the lineup of the UCLA men’s soccer team is anything but settled.

With four days to go before the season opener against Santa Clara on Sept. 2, three positions are yet to be decided with six men vying for the vacancies.

“We just had another intrasquad game on Saturday and it is still very competitive from goalkeeper to the midfielders,” coach Jorge Salcedo said. “The players aren’t making it very easy for me to choose.”

The most anticipated of the position contests is at goalie, where junior Eric Reed and senior Nate Pena are locked in battle, giving Salcedo a hard time differentiating the two players’ abilities.

“Nate had a great summer and Eric has been solid in the preseason,” he said. “There is very little difference between the two, and either will be a very good choice.”

Also undecided are an outside midfielder spot and one of the forward positions, with all four of the candidates impressing Salcedo, who believes any starting combination he puts together will be a good one.

“We’re really excited for the season to start because the preseason has gone so well,” Salcedo said. “The guys are fit and strong and will be able to sustain a high level of competition on Friday (for the season opener).”

In order to prepare his team, Salcedo has been administering two-hour non-stop practices, with intrasquad games and drills sandwiched in between fitness training at the beginning and end of practice. Players have had to endure two workouts a day in what has been a very hot month of August.

“It’s a necessity to work the players so hard because the preseason is such a short period,” Salcedo said.

The preparation looks to have paid off after the Bruins tied Indiana, which figures to be one of the strongest candidates to win the championship this season.

The match, which took place during the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne tournament before a record crowd, featured four Bruin freshmen in the first half who all played well, according to Salcedo, despite falling to a 1-0 deficit.

“The game overall was great,” Salcedo said. “The first game is an unknown because we haven’t been together that long, and the freshman need time to adjust, but it was a very good performance.”

Looking ahead to Friday, Salcedo is once again seeing favorable results, though he knows the first game, like the entire season, will be a battle.

“It is always a war against Santa Clara,” he said. “But we are going to take the entire season one half at a time.”