UCLA blanks Hornets

If goals were given for effort, CSUS might have beaten UCLA's top rated soccer team on Saturday.

Instead, the Hornet men's team was defeated 3-0, falling to a record of 0-11-1 with six games remaining in the season.

Coach Michael Linenberger said his team made the defending national champions work for their victory.

"We knew coming in this game that they did not respect us," Linenberger said. "We wanted to go in and gain their respect and make them work very hard for a win. We feel we accomplished that."

While the Hornet offense has failed to produce a goal in the last eight games, Linenberger said there were positive signs of improvement despite the loss.

"We've been making some poor decisions," he said. "We haven't created chances (to score) during the last three or four games. We wanted to change that and get some food chances. We did that (Saturday). I am happy with that."

Linenberger said one of the reasons the players are having difficulty scoring goals is their youth and lack of playing time together. This year the Hornets are playing with only one senior and three juniors.

"This is such a young team that when you continue to lose, it starts to wear on our confidence," Linenberger said.

Kevin Mercado is the team's captain as well as the lone senior on the team. He said the team played its best game against the Bruins.

"This was the best effort we have had all year," Mercado said. "It could have gone at half-time, and 2-0 with five minutes left in the game. It could have gone either way at that point.

"It all goes back to effort," he said. "We haven't been able to get the ball to the people in front and I feel like we had some good chances. If we continue the hard work, then we'll get chances."

The Hornets haven't had the most appealing schedule for a team with such youth.

"On our schedule six of our eighteen opponents are in the top 20," Linenberger said. "We only have one more top-20 opponent left. When we play teams that are closer to our ability, it will happen and we will win some games. It started to happen with UCLA.

We are trying to keep everything positive, but it's a slow process. We are not going to wake up tomorrow and get our confidence back."

The Hornets take on University of San Francisco today at 4 p.m. on the home field. Linenberger said he is expecting to see some positive changes.

"We keep making improvements game by game," he said. "We have six games left, we are going to score some goals if we play with this effort."