Bruins boot Hoosiers to claim Classic

Monday, November 2, 1998

Bruins boot Hoosiers to claim Classic

INDIANA: Improved midfield contributes to win over Indiana,
2-1

By Scott Street

Daily Bruin Contributor

Halloween is over, but the Indiana Hoosiers couldn’t help but
wish the No. 23 coming off the UCLA bench was a tardy
trick-or-treater.

McKinley Tennyson, Jr. is back.

The native Hoosier scored the Bruins’ first goal and assisted
Seth George on the game-winner as the third-ranked Bruins (13-2-0)
upset top-ranked Indiana (16-2) 2-1 Sunday afternoon to claim their
second-straight Pacific Soccer Classic title in front of 3,155 at
the North Athletic Field.

Tennyson, returning from a strained quadricep, revisited his
heroics of a year ago when his goal in triple overtime sent UCLA
past Indiana into the national title game.

This year, his header past Hoosier goalkeeper T.J. Hannig
kindled a furious UCLA attack that forced Indiana to become
tentative on both offense and defense.

Pete Vagenas assisted on the goal, which came off a corner kick
from Shea Travis.

Indiana struck back less than two minutes later, when Dema
Kovalenko sent a misdirected pass past Nick Rimando.

The two scores came amidst a physical, game-long fight for
control of midfield.

"It was a neutral battle in mid-field, with two teams that play
with three outstanding players who play in midfield," said Indiana
coach Jerry Yeagley.

"They took us by surprise early on," added Kovalenko.
"Throughout the year, we haven’t faced teams that are that
aggressive with us. This is the most physical team we’ve faced all
year."

The game remained tied until the 15th minute, when Seth George,
the tournament’s offensive MVP, took a beautiful lob pass from
Tennyson, Jr. on a breakaway and shot it past Hannig, his second
goal of the tournament.

Having given up only four goals all season, the Hoosiers looked
momentarily flustered as they tried to regroup on UCLA’s
homefield.

"We put more players forward to generate more opportunities,
close-in opportunities that a good team should be able to take
advantage of," Yeagley said. "But I also credit UCLA; they are an
excellent defensive team."

Indiana regrouped and attacked the UCLA net, but they were
constantly stopped by Rimando and the Bruin defense, anchored by
tournament co-defensive MVP Carlos Bocanegra.

"Our midfield shut them down pretty good," Bocanegra said. "Our
intensity was sky-high today."

For Tennyson, who has helped defeat Indiana twice, the victory
was especially sweet given the limited time he played.

"I was just happy for the time that I was given. I thank God for
pulling me through this injury today and hope that I continue get
better and help my team out," Tennyson said, who estimates he’s 70
percent recovered.

"The past two weeks we’ve been trying to get (Tennyson) back
into shape because we knew he’d be an important part of the game
for us. Everyone was excited to see him come in," said Sasha
Victorine.

In all three of UCLA’s championship years they have won the
Classic, including last year.

"We feel real good," head coach Sigi Schmidt said. "We talked
before about having six games to go and winning our league, but we
wanted to establish ourself in our tournament like last year."

The Bruins are now in position to make another title run.

"When we match the other team’s intensity, our talent usually
carries us through," Pete Vagenas said."We came in expecting an
all-out war, but if we match the other teams’ physical toughness,
there is no team that can hang with us soccer-wise."

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