LOS ANGELES – The California men's soccer team capped a strong-second half performance at UCLA on Sunday night with a last-minute goal by Luka Lukic that gave the Golden Bears a 1-0 victory at Wallis Annenberg Stadium. The Cal newcomer has now scored three goals in his first two games as a Bear.
 
Cal improved to 2-0 with the nonconference win while UCLA fell to 0-2.
 
The Bruins outshot Cal 4-2 in a first half that produced just one shot on goal, by UCLA, and left the game tied 0-0 at halftime.
 
But the Bears rebounded to outshoot UCLA 12-0 and put three shots on goal in the final 45 minutes.
 
Cal earned a corner kick at 89:08 that set up the winning goal. Sophomore midfielder Kieran Bracken Serra took the corner and found Lukic in the UCLA box. The 6-3 striker headed the ball past goalkeeper Ryan Tiltack at 89:42, and the Bears salted away the lead in the final seconds to win their second straight match.
 
"It was great service by Kieran," Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. "Philippe Dupont (Cal's high performance coordinator) spearheads the execution of our set pieces, and it's fantastic to see our guys execute their roles and responsibilities, especially when that results in a goal like tonight."
 
In the season-opening win last Thursday at Saint Mary's, Lukic scored a brace before Cam Wilkerson notched the game-winning goal. The Cal coaches had hoped that Lukic – a graduate transfer from UC Riverside – could have this type of impact as a Bear.
 
"We watched a ton of video and saw him playing multiple times," Griffin said. "We figured if we could get him to Berkeley and surround him with other talented players, he could thrive."
 
The Bears have produced strong second halves in both of their first two games, including tallying two goals and 12 shots in the last 45 minutes against Saint Mary's. What was the difference against UCLA?

"Just the energy of the group, a couple of tactical defensive adjustments and a fight that we hang our hat on as a team," Griffin said. "I'm proud of the character and grit that we had to have a much better performance in the second half tonight."
 
The Bears next play their first two home games of the season when they take on San Francisco on Thursday and face UC San Diego next Sunday at Edwards Stadium.
 
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