Monday, January 12, 1998
Men’s soccer clinches title with wins over Indiana, Clemson
By Vytas Mazeika
Daily Bruin Staff
Indiana
UCLA has been known for its memorable matches, where epic
battles occur and somehow the Bruins scratch out a victory. The
UCLA-Indiana game was no different.
It was a game which for all intents and purposes UCLA should
have lost. But McKinley Tennyson Jr. put his team on the road to a
national championship.
"Maybe it wasn’t the most beautiful game in our parts, but I
think the effort was outstanding," UCLA head coach Sigi Schmid
said. "It was really a gut-check."
Without Pete Vagenas in the lineup because of a severe ankle
sprain, the UCLA midfield was dominated by the more talented
Indiana team. But the Bruins (21-2) had a strong defensive strategy
and a school record-tying 11 saves from goalkeeper Matt Reis.
"I felt very confident we were going to win this game," Indiana
head coach Jerry Yeagley said. "I just knew we were going to win
this game. I was shocked."
The "shock" was handed down in the third overtime – a
mind-boggling 132 minutes into the match. In college soccer, the
first two overtime periods are 15-minute intervals where the team
ahead after 30 minutes is the winner. But the third and fourth
overtimes are sudden death with penalty kicks following the fourth
overtime.
"When we were setting up for the corner, a couple of guys wanted
to hang back," UCLA midfielder Tom Poltl said. "But we just wanted
to end the game and so we pushed everybody forward. We had nine
people in the box."
Those nine people created such a chaos that some of the fans
couldn’t figure out exactly what happened. During a corner kick,
UCLA midfielder Josh Keller centered the ball to midfielder Ryan
Lee. Lee remembered scoring like that late in the season against
Duke.
But this time, his point-blank shot popped up after hitting
Indiana midfielder Chris Klein. Tennyson was right there, no more
than five feet from the goal. He shot the ball upwards and by the
time it had stopped bouncing in the back of the net, all of the
UCLA players and coaching staff had already stormed the field to
celebrate the epic victory.
"We had opportunities to win the game," Yeagley said. "It wasn’t
meant to be and we’re just going to have to start all over
tomorrow."
For the Bruins, it was destiny and they would start all over two
days later against Virginia for the NCAA title.
* * *
Clemson
When Clemson forward John Wilson scored after a cross from
midfielder Jason Kamlet, UCLA found itself down for the first time
in the playoffs. In the mud and sparse rain, the Bruins (20-2) knew
they had to make things happen and forward Bruno took on the task
to single-handedly qualify the Bruins for the Final Four in
Richmond, Va.
"The one thing I told our team at half-time is that we have not
lost a playoff game in a decade where we have only conceded one
goal," Schmid said.
Clemson head coach Trevor Adair was furious after the game over
the result, as he believed his Tigers (11-7-3) had been
shortchanged. The fourth-seeded team was forced to travel to Los
Angeles to play the fifth-seeded team.
Following the game, Adair was heard many times saying "No
comment." One of his few "comments" was to point out that at
Clemson the weather was sunny and the field was not muddy.
Schmid adjusted to Clemson’s wave-like attack in the first half
by placing Poltl and Vagenas in a more central role in the
midfield. With more possession time, UCLA created more scoring
opportunities – the first being Vagenas on a penalty kick after
Bruno was able to draw a ghost foul.
"I don’t think it was a p.k. (penalty kick)," Bruno said. "I
felt the guy behind me on my leg, I didn’t get the shot off and I
fell down."
Schmid quickly pointed out that a handball by Clemson happened a
couple of minutes earlier and the penalty kick may have been a sort
of redemption for the Bruins.
Then about 10 minutes later, in the 68th minute, Bruno took a
shot from about 25 yards out. The shot had a lot of top spin and
after a high bounce the Bruins were up 2-1.
* * *
NCAA Final Four Stars
Most Outstanding Offensive Player: forward Seth George
(UCLA)
Most Outstanding Defensive Player: goalkeeper, Matt Reis
(UCLA)
All-Tournament Team: defenseman Carlos Bocanegra (UCLA),
midfielder Josh Keller (UCLA), midfielder Tom Poltl (UCLA), forward
McKinley Tennyson Jr. (UCLA), midfielder Brian Olsen (Virginia),
defenseman Scott Vermillion (Virginia), midfielder Brian West
(Virginia), midfielder Chris Klein (Indiana), midfielder Aleksey
Korol (Indiana), forward Tim Leonard (St. Louis), midfielder Kevin
Quigley (St. Louis)
* * *
Ferrari in California
George, the Final Four most outstanding offensive player, had a
promise from his brothers before the games against Indiana and
Virginia.
Simply, if he scored, they would rent him a Ferrari for a
day.
After two goals in a two-minute span late in the title match
against Virginia, two questions pop to mind:
1. Does he now get the car for two days?
2. Does he know how to drive a stick?
* * *
Finals: isn’t there enough to worry about?
On the eve of the dramatic triple-overtime upset of Indiana,
many of the players found themselves locked in their rooms.
No, Schmid had not set a strict curfew. The Bruin players were
taking their finals.
Although athletes tend to be superstitious, I doubt any of the
members will be willing to start taking finals the day before their
biggest match of the year.
* * *
Virginia band banned
With an excess of 20,000 fans in attendance, UCLA lucked out
when the Cavalier band was banned for the title match.
A band is always capable of making the crowd more boisterous,
but this band went overboard when, due to their influence, St.
Louis missed a penalty kick in Virginia’s 3-1 semifinal victory
over the Bilikens.
With a triple-overtime victory and a band distracting a player
on a penalty kick, Friday in Richmond proved to be a night for all
time.