UCLA Advances to NCAA Championship Game

Dec. 12, 1997

RICHMOND, Va. -UCLA advanced to the NCAA Championship game by defeating Indiana 1-0 in sudden death overtime. Indiana native McKinley Tennyson, Jr. scored the game's only goal in the 132nd minute. The shot came from six yards out after Ryan Lee's shot was deflected off Chris Klein right to Tennyson.

Senior goalkeeper Matt Reis made a career-high and school-record tying 11 saves (ties with Major League soccer player Chris smitko and Brad Friedel) for the shutout . Reis had to fend off 12 1U first-half shots and made saves on nine of those shots.

The Bruins had two major opportunities to score in the first half. With 39:53 left in the half, freshman forward McKinnley Tennyson, Jr. had an open shot from the right, but his shot from the far right went wide left. Another Tennyson, Jr. shot had a good chance to go into the net for the first score of the game with 4:45 to play, but Indiana freshman sweeper Nick Gracia cleared it out after goalkeeper T.J. Hannig came out out to try to make a save. Another Hoosier defender made a key save for Indiana, this time in the second half with 42:19 to play when Tom Poltl's shot was saved by Hannig. However, the ball popped loose from Hannig's grasp right to UCLA forward Seth George, who tapped it towards the net. But defender Andy Parrish cleared it out to preserve the 0-0 tie, which remained to the end of regulation.

Indiana had nine shots in the overtime periods, two of which were saved by Reis came up with a huge save on a point blank shot by Aleksey Korol with 10 minutes left in the second overtime. Said UCLA head coach Sigi Schmid,"Matt Reis was outstanding. The save he made going left, that was a big-time save."

UCLA will be making its first appearance in the championship game since 1990 when it last won the NCAA title. In championship games, UCLA is 2-3 but has won its last two finals. The Bruins will face the winner of Virginia-Saint Louis Sunday, Dec. 14 at 1pm EST. The game is will be televised live on Fox Sports Net.


 

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