<p><div class=fright><strong><font color=blue>M. SOCCER</font></strong><hr><font size=1>Today, 3 p.m.<br>v. Virginia<br>St. Louis</font></div>Midfielder Sal Zizzo chuckled when asked if he?d ever played in the snow. ?Never,? Zizzo replied.
<br/>When asked if he was looking forward to it he chuckled again and said, ?Not really.?
<br/>Eighth-seeded UCLA takes on fourth-seeded Virginia at 3 p.m. today in the semifinals of the College Cup in St. Louis (shown live on ESPN2) with a weather report predicting 1 to 2 inches of snow and a high of 28 degrees.
<br/>While the team from Los Angeles will be in new weather, it will be facing an old opponent. UCLA and Virginia met on Sept. 4 in Charlottesville, Va. Virginia won 1-0 on the strength of a goal from forward Yannick Reyering in the 89th minute.
<br/>Both UCLA and Virginia?s teams have entirely different looks than when they met in UCLA?s third game of the year.
<br/>?(We are) two completely different teams and the emotions will be totally different,? Zizzo said.
<br/>The Bruins? emotions are all about business as they take on the Cavaliers for a second time with a berth in the national title game on the line.
<br/>?(We said that) if we got there we?d be there to win, not just be content to get there,? Zizzo said.
<br/>The hardest part for the Bruins has been keeping themselves from looking ahead in the weekend?s schedule, appearing in their first College Cup since 2002, when they won it all.
<br/>?It?s hard not to look forward and say, ?We?re only two games away from a national championship,?? defender Kiel McClung said. ?It?s hard not to focus on Sunday, but we really need to focus on Virginia because if we don?t get past Virginia we?re never going to see that game (on Sunday).?
<br/>Virginia comes into the game as a strong attacking team that will look to put a lot of heat on UCLA?s defense. Leading the way for the Bruins? opponents are forwards Reyering and Adam Cristman, who have 12 and 10 goals respectively.
<br/>?The strength of their team is their two outside midfielders and their two forwards,? UCLA coach Jorge Salcedo said. ?The key to the game is going to be, can our four backs with Tony Beltran defend against their front four? Our five against their four. If we do a good job (of that) then I think we?re going to have a good evening.?
<br/>The Cavaliers? aggressive play could play right into the Bruins? strong suit.
<br/>Throughout the playoffs, UCLA has been capitalizing on strong defense leading into counterattacks to create chances on goal. In order to help do that, the Bruins are looking to have their midfielders play the angles to limit shots and set up possible counters.
<br/>?We?re trying to seal off our mid, so we?re going to have Sal (Zizzo) and J (Jason Leopoldo) cutting off the angles (to stop) them from getting the ball through,? McClung said.
<br/>A key part of the counterattack has been Zizzo, who has been involved in a majority of the Bruins? postseason goals. The sophomore?s speed and ability to move the ball up the wing has opened up space for UCLA deep in the opponent?s half.
<br/>?The way we?re playing, winning balls on our half and countering on teams really suits Sal well because it gives him space to run at defenders,? Salcedo said.
<br/>The Bruins made the College Cup on the strength of an overtime goal from Zizzo 30 seconds into overtime, on the road at first-seeded Duke. Virginia qualified by defeating 12th-seeded Notre Dame 3-2 at home.
<br/>Should the Bruins win, they will take on either second-seeded Wake Forest or unseeded UC Santa Barbara, which play at 5:30 p.m.</p><br><br><a href='http://www.dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39191&#039; target='_blank'>http://www.dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39191&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br>