Team wins with better goals

Monday, November 2, 1998

Team wins with better goals

By Vytas Mazeika

Daily Bruin Staff

The Indiana Hoosier’s plan was to show up and teach those UCLA
punks a lesson.

They failed.

What Indiana wanted to know was how the Bruin soccer players
could respect themselves after the performance they gave in the
NCAA semifinal game last year.

The 1-0 triple overtime victory by UCLA over Indiana was a game
dominated by the Hoosiers. Midfield was Indiana territory, and the
Bruins could never set the tempo of the game.

The Bruins prevailed, thanks to a scheme designed to sit back
and take all the blows before counterattacking. UCLA goalie Matt
Reis made some incredible saves en route to the 1997 NCAA national
title ­ the third in UCLA history.

Indiana, the No. 1 team then and now, came to the Pacific Soccer
Classic to show the Bruins that their 1-0 victory was a fluke.

At least after this year’s loss, Indiana took the defeat
graciously.

"I just think that today they outplayed us," Hoosier midfielder
Dema Kovalenko said. "(In) last year’s game I think we were the
better team. We outplayed them … But they were better than us
today."

Kovalenko said the reason UCLA came out on top 2-1 on Sunday was
not thanks to a defensive scheme, but rather the contributions of
Sasha Victorine, Pete Vagenas and Tom Poltl ­ the heart of the
Bruin midfield.

Especially important were the performances of Victorine and
Vagenas. Neither player participated in last year’s game, therefore
UCLA could not properly showcase their talent in the NCAA semifinal
match.

"I was really happy for Sasha and Pete because we missed them
last year in the Final Four," said Bruin forward McKinley Tennyson,
Jr., who scored the winning goal in last year’s game and added a
goal and an assist on Sunday. "You could really see the
difference."

Before the game, Bruin head coach Sigi Schmid motivated his
midfielders with insults. Schmid pleaded with his midfielders to
try their best to just neutralize Indiana’s much heralded field
generals.

"We don’t want to neutralize, we want to beat them," Victorine
said. "And I think we did."

After the game, Vagenas asked Schmid how the midfield performed,
and the UCLA coach confessed to him that he thought the Bruin
midfield was superior.

"I think the team is more confident when they have us in there,"
Vagenas said. "When we weren’t in there, everyone had to focus on
doing a little more. Now they can just focus on their jobs."

Seth George can focus on scoring, Poltl on winning the tough
battles and the Bruins on repeating as national champions.

Comments, feedback, problems?

© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]