In the end, the NCAA Division I champion UCLA men’s soccer
team scored every goal they needed to ““ not just the ones
that hit the back of the net, but their team goals too.
“It was a dream come true,” senior midfielder Jimmy
Frazelle said about the season. “I really wanted to get back
to the Final Four. After my freshman year, I thought I’d get
back every year, but it’s hard to get back.”
They began setting more modest goals in August and rattled off
four straight wins to start the season, including two against teams
that would make the NCAA tournament ““ Florida International
and San Diego.
Their streak was interrupted Sept. 22 against Loyola
Marymount.
“We were really angry after the loss,” senior
midfielder Jimmy Frazelle said. “It built character and made
us realize we can’t win every game.”
Their biggest test came two weeks later when the Bruins went
East to play at the Rutgers Tournament. On Oct. 6, UCLA played
then-ranked No. 1 St. John’s. With the game tied 0-0 midway
through the second half, UCLA sophomore defender Aaron Lopez got a
red card, leaving them shorthanded (and without their top scorer)
for the rest of the game. They still came away with a scoreless
tie.
“We were playing the No. 1 team, at the east coast, with a
man down” Pierce said. “That game helped our
confidence.”
After a 2-1 win over Fresno State to open the Pac-10 season came
what some players consider UCLA’s best regular season game
““ a 1-0 home win against Stanford on Oct. 18. It was the
second upset of a national No. 1 team by the Bruins in a month.
“Our defense was strong, and in the end, we got the goal
to beat them,” Lopez said.
Going into November, UCLA had a confident hold on the conference
title.
But on Nov. 1, Washington, on its way to a 6-10-3 record and
fifth place (out of six) in the Pac-10, upset UCLA 2-1 in double
overtime.
A week later, the Bruins lost to Cal 1-0 (2 OT) in a
controversial finish. A UCLA player was given a red card on a
handball violation, giving Cal a penalty kick in double overtime.
UCLA head coach Tom Fitzgerald was also given a red card for
arguing.
The Bruins were no longer in control of their destiny in the
Pac-10 race.
But two days later another 1-0 win over Stanford righted the
Bruins’ ship.
“The game at Stanford came off of a loss and really turned
around our hopes of winning the Pac-10,” Pierce said.
Still, UCLA needed to beat Fresno State and hope Cal
didn’t win both of its final games to win the Pac-10.
And it happened.
UCLA beat the Bulldogs in their season finale 3-1, and Cal
surprisingly ended up losing both of its games.
“Winning the Pac-10 was our first goal,” Fitzgerald
said.
Then the postseason began.
The Bruins received the No. 3 seed in the tournament and a
first-round bye. After avenging its early-season loss to LMU in the
second round, they beat Cal in the third round 3-2.
The quarterfinal may have marked the best performance by the
offense this season. Against Penn State, the Bruins scored six
goals in the second half and won 7-1.
“It was our last home game, and we knew we weren’t
going to come back,” Frazelle said. “When we were down
1-0, I told myself “˜Oh man, we’re not losing this
game.’ I didn’t expect us to score seven goals
though.”
Then came the team’s second goal: qualifying for the
Men’s College Cup, the soccer equivalent of the final
four.
“It was a step up from normal college soccer games,”
Pierce said.
“There were buses waiting for us, big signs everywhere,
ESPN interviews, not something we’re used to.”
In the national semifinal, UCLA was matched up against Maryland,
the No. 1 seed.
The game was scoreless until the 74th minute when Taylor scored
a goal off of a pass from Adolfo Gregorio.
Maryland quickly got the goal back in the 80th minute.
A penalty kick by Gregorio a minute later clinched the win and
sent the Bruins into the national title game.
The stage was set for a third game with Stanford. Again, it was
a 1-0 UCLA victory. Lopez scored the game-winning goal with 1:02
left.
“It was a pretty good feeling,” Lopez said. “I
turned around, and my teammates looked still. We couldn’t
believe it. I saw that the clock said 1:02, and I knew we were
going to win.”
It was UCLA’s first championship since 1997. For Lopez,
and the rest of the 2002 Bruins, they had netted their final and
ultimate goal.