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."
* * *
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.
* * *
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.