UCLA (3-6-4, 3-3-2 Big Ten) made the hour and a half trip from Ann Arbor to East Lansing to face Michigan State (5-6-2, 2-4-2 Big Ten), fighting a hard fought 90 minute battle that ended in a scoreless draw Monday night at the DeMartin Stadium. The Bruins recorded eight shot attempts but were unable to put any on goal, while the Spartans took 10 shots, four of which were on target. All four shots were saved by Kevin Box, UCLA’s goalkeeper.
Box recorded his first save when Michigan State’s Richie Ludwig shot towards the goal, just 23 seconds into the game. UCLA’s Tre Wright almost responded with a goal minutes later, followed by a missed shot from Miles Merritt on the opposing side. Wright stayed aggressive and took another shot near the 16th minute of the game. Right before the play, Michigan State’s Josh Adam was shown a yellow card for a foul.
The Bruins recorded four corner kicks compared to the Spartan’s five. The Spartan’s first corner kick came at about the 28th minute, giving Jack Guggemos a shot at the goal. Little did he know, Box was there to record another save. Following this, Michigan State continued to tally two more corner kicks in the span of those two minutes.
Both sides continued to struggle to get a goal in going into halftime. After the break, Michigan State opened the second half with another corner kick, applying early pressure. UCLA’s Oliver Roche became the first Bruin to receive a yellow card, followed shortly after by Ander Marticorena. This might’ve given Marticorena additional motivation after witnessing him give the Bruins one of the strongest chances at securing their first point in the late 62nd minute.
As the game came near to its end, UCLA’s Francis Bonsu had nearly scored a last minute goal after aggressively getting off two shots in the 84th minute. With this, the game concludes on a 0-0 draw.
UCLA looks ahead to securing a victory when they go back home to play Rutgers at the Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles.
Featured Image Via Tszshan Huang/Daily Bruin
