University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
San Diego
Men's Soccer Falls To San Diego, 1-0, In NCAA 1st Round
November 18, 2000 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 18, 2000
(San Diego, CA) -- San Diego senior Miguel Suazo scored the game's only goal 10:56 into the first overtime to give the host Toreros (16-1-2) a 1-0 OT victory over the visiting UCLA Bruins (12-7) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before a standing-room-only crowd of 4,000.
USD, the No. 4 seed in this year's tournament, will next play the winner of Sunday's match between Creighton and Ohio State.
The game-winner was set up when Torero freshman Matt McCausland sent a ball from the right side to the middle towards Ryan Coiner. Two UCLA defenders marked Coiner, but somehow the ball cleared past all three of them, and Suazo found himself open just to the left of the goal. Suazo trapped the ball and blasted it past Bruin keeper DJ Countess to the right corner for the game-winner.
For the game, both teams created plenty of chances, as the Bruins outshot the Toreros 17-13 (11-5 in 2nd half), and totaled ten corner kicks to USD's 3. Torero keeper Justin Neerhof was credited with seven saves, and Countess had five.
"I felt we played excellent soccer," said UCLA head coach Todd Saldana. "We had some great chances, but it was just typical of our season in that the ball hadn't bounced for us, and the ball bounced well for San Diego today."
Added senior midfielder Shaun Tsakiris, "It's obviously disappointing. We would've like to have made a good run, but like Todd said, the ball didn't go our way. But you have to give credit to San Diego. They played well." A few minutes prior to Suazo's heroics, the Toreros almost won the game when Coiner found himself alone on a counter-attack with just the goalkeeper to beat. But his wide-open chip shot sailed high over the goal.
UCLA had a good opportunity with 31:30 to play in regulation when Tsakiris slammed a free kick from just beyond the top of the box. Neerhof leaped high to tip it it out beyond the endline and save a sure goal.
With 30 seconds left in regulation, two standout defensive plays by the Bruins kept them in the game. San Diego's Sy Reeves blasted a shot that was cleared off the line by Bruin senior Caleb Westbay. The rebound went to Matt Gerchak, whose close-range shot was saved by Countess.
With the victory, USD improved to 11-1 at home this season, and 21-1 over the past two seasons. UCLA ends its record at 12-7.
Scoring Summary UCLA 0-0-0 0 USD 0-0-1 1
USD - Miguel Suazo (100:56), Matt McCausland assist ---offrebound, in close.
Shots:USD (13), UCLA (17) Corner Kicks: USD (3), UCLA (10) Saves: UCLA (6) -Countess (5), USD, Neerhof (7) Fouls: UCLA (21), USD (16)
