Dec. 2, 2010

Complete Release in PDF Format

This Week - Eighth-seeded UCLA (16-4-1) travels to top-seeded Louisville (18-0-3) in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 7 pm ET. The game will take place at Louisville's Cardinal Park.

Live Coverage - Louisville is offering a webcast for Saturday's game, as well as Gametracker live stats. Links are available at ncaa.com.

UCLA Into Quarterfinals For 20th Time - The Bruins have reached the NCAA Quarterfinals for the 20th time in school history and for the second-consecutive year. UCLA is 12-7 all-time in the quarterfinal round.

Bruins Reach Tournament For 28th Consecutive Year - UCLA earned its 28th consecutive and 38th overall NCAA Tournament berth with an at-large berth and No. 8 seeding in the Tournament. UCLA's NCAA streak is the second-longest active streak in the nation, and the 38 NCAA appearances are second only to Saint Louis' 46. UCLA has an all-time NCAA Tournament record of 64-34, with national championships in 1985, 1990, 1997 and 2002.

Sweet Sixteen - UCLA's win over Dartmouth in the Round of 16 gave the Bruins 16 victories on the season, the most by a Bruin squad since the 2003 team won 20 games. The 16 wins are also the most during head coach Jorge Salcedo's tenure.

In The Rankings - UCLA finished the regular season ranked No. 7 by Soccer America and No. 8 by the NSCAA. The Bruins are also ranked No. 7 by College Soccer News, No. 6 by Top Drawer Soccer and No. 9 by Soccer Times. In the NCAA RPI, UCLA finished the regular season No. 8.

How They Got Here: UCLA - UCLA won its first NCAA Tournament game, 4-1, on Nov. 21 against Sacramento State, thanks to a pair of goals by Chandler Hoffman, plus goals by Reed Williams and Victor Chavez. In third round action, Eder Arreola was the hero, scoring both goals in a 2-1 double overtime win over Dartmouth. Arreola scored the game-winner with eight seconds on the clock in the second overtime period.

UCLA received an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament after finishing in second place by one point in the Pac-10 Conference behind sixth-seeded California. The Bruins earned a Top 8 seed, their second consecutive, by virtue of their 14-4-1 regular season record and 8-2-0 conference record. UCLA finished the regular season with four straight road wins and victories in six of its last seven games.

How They Got Here: Louisville - Top-seeded Louisville won the BIG EAST Tournament in a shootout against Providence. The Cardinals won their two NCAA tournament games at home, defeating College of Charleston, 3-1, in the second round, and Ohio State, 2-1, in the third round. In NCAA Tournament play, senior Charlie Campbell has two goals and one assist, and junior Nick DeLeon has one goal and two assists.

The Series With Louisville - This is the first meeting ever between UCLA and Louisville. The Bruins are 15-6-3 all-time against BIG EAST opponents, with the most recent game coming in this year's season opener, a 1-0 win over Notre Dame in Indiana. The Bruins' most frequent BIG EAST opponent has been Rutgers, who are just 1-5-1 all-time against UCLA.

UCLA-Louisville Connection - Louisville sophomore midfielder Paolo DelPiccolo has family ties to the UCLA program. DelPiccolo's father Aldo was on the UCLA soccer team from 1978-81 and was named the team's Most Improved Player in 1980. Paolo was also a high school teammate of UCLA freshman Reid Hukari at Wheat Ridge HS in Wheat Ridge, CO.

Third Round Wrapup - With the seconds ticking down to a penalty kick shootout, UCLA junior midfielder Eder Arreola ended the game with a golden goal with eight seconds left in the second overtime to give the Bruins a 2-1 win over Dartmouth in the NCAA third round. Arreola's goal was set up after a long throw-in by Joe Sofia. Sofia's throw-in was headed up by a Dartmouth defender in the box, and Arreola followed through by tapping the ball into the goal for his second goal of the night. Arreola had put UCLA up 1-0 at the 25:55 mark on a curling shot to the upper right corner after a series of passes from Reed Williams and Chandler Hoffman.

Arreola Heroics Earn Him Honors - After scoring both goals in the Bruins' third round win over Dartmouth, junior midfielder Eder Arreola earned Top Drawer Soccer Player of the Week honors, as well as UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week acclaim. Additionally, Arreola was named to the National Teams of the Week for both Top Drawer Soccer and College Soccer News. Arreola now ranks tied for third on the team in scoring with 13 points (3g, 7a).

Hoffman Scoring Streak - Sophomore forward Chandler Hoffman has been on fire since making his first start of the season on Nov. 5. The Birmingham, AL native has scored either a goal or assist in each of his five games as a starter (five goals, one assist), including game-winning goals at Washington and at San Diego State. His four-game goal-scoring streak from Nov. 5-21 was the third-longest goal scoring streak in school history and just one game away from the school record of five, held by Joe-Max Moore (1991) and Billy Thompson (1988). Hoffman had a pair of goals in the NCAA second round win over Sacramento State and an assist in the NCAA third round game against Dartmouth. He missed the season's first 11 games with a fractured leg, suffered the first day of preseason training.

Bruin Cubs - Does youthful enthusiasm trump veteran experience? The Bruins are making a strong case for it with their underclassman-heavy team. UCLA routinely starts seven underclassmen, with four juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen making the starting lineup in their last game against Dartmouth. In the second round NCAA game against Sac State, the Bruins started four juniors, three sophomore and four freshmen.

As a whole, Bruin underclassmen have seen the majority of playing time, recording 14,241 combined minutes, nearly double that of the upperclassmen's combined total of 7,320 minutes. Of the 19 different players who have made at least one start, 14 have been underclassmen - eight freshmen and six sophomores. Thirty-one of UCLA's 36 goals this year have been recorded by underclassmen - 9 by Victor Chavez, 6 by Kelyn Rowe, 5 each by Reed Williams and Chandler Hoffman, 3 by Evan Raynr, 2 by Ryan Hollingshead, and 1 by Joe Sofia. UCLA's lone upperclass goal scorers are juniors Eder Arreola (3g, 7a), Andy Rose (1g, 4a) and Shawn Singh (1g, 3a).

May We Assist You? - Midfielders Kelyn Rowe and Eder Arreola have been climbing up the Pac-10 leaderboard for assists, with each ranking in the Top 5 in the conference. Rowe ranks second in the conference with nine assists, while Arreola is fourth with a career-high seven. Also ranked in the Top 10 in the conference are sophomore Ryan Hollingshead and freshman Victor Chavez, who are tied for seventh with five assists. In addition to Rowe's nine assists, he also has six goals and has thus had a hand in nearly half of UCLA's 36 goals this year. Six of Arreola's seven assists have come in conference play, and he ranks second in the Pac-10 in that category for conference games-only.

Young Defenders Playing Like Veterans - UCLA's backline of freshman Joe Sofia, sophomore transfer Matt Wiet, junior Shawn Singh and freshman Patrick Matchett only have six seasons of collegiate experience between the four of them, but they have been playing like seasoned veterans, helping goalkeeper Brian Rowe record eight solo and one shared shutout this year. The Bruins have a team goals against average of 0.92 for the year and a Pac-10-best 0.49 in conference play, and their nine shutouts are the most by a UCLA team since 2005.