Tuesday, October 28, 1997
Tournament of champions
SOCCER Upcoming Classic good predictor of future NCAA
winners
By David Arnold
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA Classic. Those words conjure up images of competition,
victory, and especially NCAA championships.
Eleven years have passed since Duke last entered the UCLA Soccer
Classic. That same year, the Blue Devils won the whole enchilada –
the NCAA Championship.
Now, a decade later, the sixth-ranked Blue Devils (13-3) return
to the grounds of the West Coast’s most prestigious collegiate
tournament to face the No. 3 Bruins, 1994 Classic champion Cal
State Fullerton (9-7) and East Coast power University of
Massachusetts (11-5-1).
This year’s incarnation of the Classic promises to be both
highly contested and full of star-caliber talent as the Bruins, who
have won the tournament eight of the 12 years it has been held,
face UMass on Friday and Duke on Sunday at Spaulding Field.
Among the MVP hopefuls stands Titan senior Sheldon Thomas, who
led his team to a 1-0-1 record in the Classic last year while
earning the individual distinctions of tournament offensive MVP,
and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year. Thomas,
however, has had to carry a large load this year on a team that may
start between six and eight freshmen.
Opposing Thomas this Friday in the first Classics game will be
Duke’s strong mid-field, starring Missouri Athletic Club Player of
the Year Jay Heapf, who shares the team lead in points scored with
freshman mid-fielder Ali Curtis. Heapf has combined with fellow
junior and member of the ’95 All-Freshman team forward Josh
Henderson to lead a Blue Devil team that has only lost to ranked
teams this year.
The UCLA Soccer Classic has historically been a good indicator
of a team’s performance in the NCAA tournament, as the prestige of
the Classic draws top-quality teams and previews many championship
matches. Teams play two of the four schools present, and the
champion will be decided by a point system where two points are
given for a win, one for a tie, and a head-to-head match breaks
ties. For the Bruins to win this week would indicate to the rest of
the nation that it is deserving of its top-ten ranking, while an
upset could send the unranked Minutemen or Titans into the top
25.
The Classic promises excitement, a chance to see future pros in
action, and a sneak peek at who may emerge as the king of the hill
for this season. When the whistle is blown on Friday, expect the
nation to pay attention, because this weekend could very well
decide the seeding for the NCAA tournament.
GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin
UCLA’s Carlos Bocanegra guards the ball against CSULA during a
tournament this weekend.