Indiana holds off m. soccer

Monday, October 31, 1994

Indiana holds off m. soccer

Hoosiers defeat Bruins, 2-0, in MetLife Classic

By Tim Costner

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

The UCLA men's soccer team lost on North Soccer Field for the first time this season on Sunday, falling, 2-0, to Indiana in the final game of the UCLA/adidas MetLife Classic.

The Bruins ­ No. 4 in the nation ­ were poised to make a move to No. 1 with a victory over the top-ranked Hoosiers, but ultimately failed to create the opportunities that they needed to score goals.

"We were playing a team that has eight seniors and we're playing a game without Adam Frye and without Eddie Lewis," UCLA head coach Sigi Schmid said. "We were a little in awe of (Indiana) in the first half."

The Hoosiers (17-2 overall) outshot the Bruins (15-2) five to three in the first 45 minutes, and led in the corner kick total five to nothing.

Indiana converted one of those corner kicks into the first goal of the game when midfielder Joel Shanker connected with fellow midfielder Todd Yeagley, who headed the ball to the far post in the 36th minute.

The Bruins, on the other hand, not only failed to convert on their corner kicks ­ they only had one the entire game.

"We want to get to the endline more and get more corners," Schmid said. "Unfortunately we didn't do a good job getting to the endline. We didn't get the ball to Joe Christie enough ­ the only impact he had on the game was on his free kicks."

But Indiana had even more impact with its free kicks, taking the game out of the Bruins' hands in the 64th minute as Brian Maisonneuve headed a free kick off of UCLA's Brian Woolfolk to give the Hoosiers an insurance goal.

"I thought in the second half we were unlucky to take a goal," Schmid said. "The guy had a good header, but it deflected off of our guy and our goal keeper probably would have saved it. That took the steam out of us a bit, especially since we had two good chances early in the second half."

The Bruins applied some pressure in the late minutes, but couldn't get past the Hoosier defense. By the end of the match, UCLA tallied just eight shots on goal, compared to Indiana's 10 shots on goal.

"Indiana was the better team today ­ there's no doubt in my mind," Schmid said. "They were just a little more composed and a little more polished. But this was great for us because it will give us a chance to see where we are. For us it was a time to check where we are with our strengths and weaknesses, and now we can sit down and have a true evaluation."

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The Bruins did win against Notre Dame (8-9-1) in Friday's match, shutting out the Fighting Irish, 4-0, on Spaulding Field.

UCLA scored it's first goal in first half injury time as Greg Vanney hammered in a close-range shot to put the Bruins up 1-0. UCLA's Josh Keller and Robbie LaBelle assisted on the play.

In the second half, the Bruins blew the game open as UCLA's Justin Selander headed in a goal off of a free kick by teammate Ante Razov in the 54th minute.

The Bruins scored again just four minutes later on a penalty kick by Frankie Hejduk, who tapped the ball to the left post as the Irish keeper dove right.

Razov polished off Notre Dame in the 64th minute with an spectacular shot from the left that bent just inside the far post. Christie assisted on the play, setting up Razov's shot by splitting the two Irish defenders with a cross pass.

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In other MetLife scores, Cal State Fullerton knocked off Indiana, 3-2, in overtime on Friday to give the Hoosiers their first loss in 15 games.

Fullerton and Notre Dame reached a 2-2 stalemate in overtime on Sunday, as the Titans equalized late in regulation and late in the second overtime to take home the tournament trophy.