Bruin victory in close game repeats history

Published: Thursday, December 4, 1997

Wednesday, December 3, 1997

M. SOCCER:

UCLA takes big step towards Final Four by winning second-to-last game of seasonBy Vytas Mazeika

Daily Bruin Staff

When the No. 2 Bruins took the field against No. 4 Washington on Monday in only the second round of the NCAA tournament, memories of 1985 flashed in the mind of UCLA head coach Sigi Schmid.

"The story I told the team (before the game) was that back in '85, when we won the (NCAA) title, we played a game in the second round against a team from UNLV," Schmid explained. "At that point ourselves and UNLV should not have met in that round because we were probably two of the best teams in the country."

Monday's game, which was postponed Sunday because of rain, also reminded Schmid of the game against the Running Rebels because the weather was similar. But could the Bruins repeat the 1985 feat and win their second-round game? Yes.

Bruin forward Seth George scored the only goal of the match in the 16th minute and the UCLA defense survived an all-out attack from the Huskies in the final 45 minutes to hold on for a 1-0 victory the same margin of victory as the 1985 UNLV playoff game.

"That's the most pressure I've faced," said Bruin defender Jimmy Conrad, who started in place of Kevin Coye. (Coye is out for the season with a knee injury suffered in the first round of the playoffs.) "It was pretty intense pressure, but that's what it's all about. If you're not ready to accept that challenge, then you shouldn't be out here."

"When we were sending the balls out, it just felt like everything was coming right back at us," UCLA defender Carlos Bocanegra said.

There was a feeling-out period early in the match before the Bruins began pressuring the experienced Husky team a team with 10 returning starters. When George scored from a cross by fellow forward McKinley Tennyson Jr., the Bruins seemed very much in command. But Husky head coach Dean Wurzberger, who was an assistant at UCLA from 1986-88, subbed in forward Rees Bettinger in the 28th minute to add a third forward to the lineup.

What ensued a couple of minutes later was complete and utter chaos.

After Washington sent in a corner kick, both forward Ian Russell and defender Craig Waibel had a chance to score for Washington from point-blank range, but the ball deflected up into the air off UCLA midfielder Nick Paneno. As Bruin defender Josh Keller was about to head the ball out, Russell, who appeared to be pushed in the back by Bocanegra, punched the ball into the net.

After a conference between the main official and the sideline official, the goal was overturned.

"I thought we did everything we could today," Wurzberger said. "Unlike last year (in Washington's 3-1 victory over UCLA), where I thought we went through a period where we just lost our way, we threw everything at them."

The Bruins looked like they were defensive in the second half, but Schmid emphasized that was due to the Husky strategy of using three forwards for much of the game and four forwards in the last 20 minutes.

Washington did get seven shots on the Bruin's goal during the second half, but UCLA senior goalie Matt Reis made a couple of sprawling saves.

Although the stats only credited Reis with two saves, Schmid had praise for his goalkeeper.

"It got kind of hectic back there with them pushing all the people up," Reis, who recorded his third shutout in a row, said. "Everybody in front of me played amazing. The shots that they did have, most of them were deflected."

The Bruins will now play unseeded Clemson on Saturday at 1 pm. The game will be at Spaulding Field and will be the last game UCLA will host this year, with the Final Four taking place in Richmond, Va.

PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin

Tom Poltl, shown playing against FSU, and UCLA host their last game of the season against Clemson in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.