The Lipscomb men’s soccer team won their season opener against the UCLA Bruins in Los Angeles by a score of 2-1 on Thursday night.
The loss to Lipscomb is the first season-opening defeat for UCLA in nine years, and the Bisons win their first match of the year for the second straight time.
Comfortable on away turf from the opening whistle, Lipscomb found an early opener when Elon transfer Burl Shepherd earned his first goal in purple and gold, finishing a deflected shot from sophomore Tyrece Spicer. Shepherd, a junior from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, played every minute of his opening match with the Bisons. Credited with the assist on the play, Trinidad and Tobago native Spicer picked up where he left off last season as a creator.
Spicer occupied his typical right wing position for the majority of the match, and opposite him was graduate transfer Bakary Bagayoko of Bronx, New York. The Cumberland University transfer found himself involved in many of Lipscomb’s attacking chances, and despite being unable to find the scoresheet, Bagayoko did get a shot away and was impactful all night long.
After the early goal, UCLA settled down and began to work away at finding an equalizer. Lipscomb’s four-back defensive unit were strong and solid all night long, and all four defenders played the full 90 minutes for head coach Charles Morrow. Despite their best efforts, though, the Bruins would eventually find their goal through Tucker Lepley in the 33rd minute, moving the score to 1-1 and bringing the home side to the halftime break on level terms.
It was a familiar scoring source who would win it for Lipscomb in the end, as Chattanooga, Tennessee native Hayes Wood found the winner in the 83rd minute to secure a dramatic Bisons win. He also scored a match winner last season as one of his three goals on the year. Wood slipped a shot past the post from close range to get the go-ahead goal.
With the win, Lipscomb gets off the mark with a 1-0-0 record heading into their away game with San Diego. UCLA drops to 0-1-0 and will face San Francisco next. The Bisons’ fourth-ever match against the Toreros will be held at Torero Stadium in San Diego on Sunday at 8 p.m. CDT. It can be streamed live on the West Coast Conference network online.