With UCLA in trouble late in Wednesday’s NCAA second round
game against Tulsa, a simple command made to midfielder Adolfo
Gregorio turned a potential loss into a 3-2 victory.
“After a couple of corner kicks, Dru (Hoshimiya) told me,
“˜Get it to me near post, Adolfo’,” Gregorio
said.
Gregorio did just that, sending a perfect corner kick to the
near post. Hoshimiya did his part and made an excellent run to the
near post and sent a header into the back of the net, just past the
outstretched arms of Tulsa (13-6-2) goalie Justin Durst.
The goal in the 81st minute gave UCLA (19-1-1) a lead it would
not relinquish and propelled the Bruins into Sunday’s third
round game.
Despite the importance of the goal, to many in the crowd, it
looked just like another routine goal off a corner kick. But it
wasn’t, since Hoshimiya’s run to the near post was his
first in-box corner kick in weeks.
“It’s a 60-yard run from sweeper (Hoshimiya’s
position) to the opposing team’s penalty box,” said
UCLA coach Tom Fitzgerald. “And with Dru’s fitness not
all the way at 100 percent, we had been telling him to stay back
defending.
“But Dru does the near post run better than anyone on the
team, so I told him tonight, go up on corner kicks, and it ended up
working out for us.”
Hoshimiya finished his first corner kick chance in many weeks
with a glance header just under the crossbar and just over the
hands of Tulsa’s Durst.
“I was just trying to get it on frame, and when I did and
it went past the goalie, I was excited,” Hoshimiya said.
“I thought the goalie had it, but I didn’t have the
best angle as I was kicking the corner,” Gregorio said.
“I was so excited when that ball went in. It was a great
feeling.”
The goal finally put away a Tulsa team that had come to Westwood
looking for a huge upset. Tulsa scored first on Ryan Pore’s
perfectly spotted free kick in the 23rd minute. It was Pore’s
20th goal of the season, which puts him second in the NCAA in
goals.
UCLA responded with two goals early in the second half to
seemingly take control. But Tulsa retaliated with an equalizing
goal in the 67th minute by Kyle Brown, just two minutes after Ryan
Valdez put UCLA in the lead for the first time.