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The NCAA News -- December 20, 1999

Lone goal leads Hoosiers to second straight soccer crown

One goal was enough to lead Indiana to its second straight Men's College Cup.

The Hoosiers' 1-0 victory over Santa Clara was the first championship played at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, after a four-year stint at Richmond, Virginia. The victory also gave Indiana its fifth men's soccer championship, this one in front of a crowd of 15,439.

Yuri Lavrinenko scored the game-winning goal, his second in two years. With 16 minutes left in the first half, Lavrinenko capitalized on a quick counter attack by the Hoosiers on the left side of the field. Lavrinenko dribbled the ball before passing to Aleksey Korol at the top of the penalty box. Korol blocked a Santa Clara defender and fed the ball back to a waiting Lavrinenko. The Indiana senior placed the ball inside the far post past Broncos goalkeeper Rusty Johnson.

"I got the ball near midfield and started dribbling forward," said Lavrinenko of the decisive goal. "I was looking to pass it right away, but our movement on the sides opened up a road for me down the field. Aleksey (Korol) made a great move on the side, and I passed it to him, and he played it back to me."

The Broncos had a good chance of tying the game with only 20 minutes left in the game. Santa Clara's Anthony Chimienti fired a shot from the right side, seven yards outside of the goal, but it was blocked by Indiana's Nick Garcia.

"From what I can remember, the ball was on our left side of the goal, and they had someone coming through," Garcia said. "I slipped in behind T. J. (Hannig, Indiana goalkeeper), and I saw it come toward me. It was just a natural reaction. I remember it skimming off my head, and I thought it went in."

In fact, Garcia had saved the goal attempt. Hannig was barely able to get a hand on the ball, when Garcia stepped in and headed the ball away.

Indiana head coach Jerry Yeagley was just as happy with his squad's second title as he was with the first.

"It's something indescribable no matter if you've won before," Yeagley said. "This group is special. I don't remember a team that has come this far.

"I want to congratulate Indiana," said Santa Clara coach Mitch Murray. "They are a fantastic, outstanding team. Making it three years in a row to the College Cup with two wins doesn't happen by accident. I'm very proud of our guys, too. They did a super job and never quit."

Both semifinal games went into overtime for the first time in championship history. In fact, both games went into four overtimes to determine which teams would advance to the championship game.

In the first semifinal, Santa Clara defeated Connecticut, 2-1. The game-winner came in the 139th minute, when Shawn Percell lifted the ball up and over Connecticut goalkeeper Matt Chavlovich.

In game two, Indiana's Ryan Mack scored midway through the fourth overtime to break the 2-2 tie with UCLA, less than eight minutes before the advancing team would have been determined by penalty kicks. Mack blasted a shot from 18 yards out that just went past the reach of UCLA goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

Lavrinenko was honored with the tournament's most outstanding offensive player award, while Garcia took home most outstanding defensive honors. Joining them on the all-tournament squad were teammates Mack and Korol. Santa Clara placed Adam Eyre, Ari Rodopoulos and Shawn Percell, while Connecticut's Darin Lewis and Brent Rahim, and Sasha Victorine and Pete Vagenas from UCLA completed the elite team.

QUARTERFINALS

Santa Clara 3, UAB 2 (1 ot); Connecticut 3, Furman 2; UCLA 2, Virginia 0; Indiana 3, Penn St. 0.

SEMIFINALS

Santa Clara -- 1 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 1 -- 2

Connecticut -- 0 -- 1 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 1

First half: SC -- Shawn Percell (Ari Rodopoulos), 19:43.

Second half: C -- Darin Lewis (Brent Rahim), 56:04.

Overtime: SC -- Percell (Sean-Michael Callahan, Rodopoulos), 138:50.

Shots: Santa Clara 20, Connecticut 13. Goalkeeper saves: Santa Clara (Rusty Johnson) 3, Connecticut (Matt Chavlovich) 8. Corner kicks: Santa Clara 6, Connecticut 9. Fouls: Santa Clara 27, Connecticut 19. Yellow cards: Santa Clara--Percell, Justin Canel, Kyle Smith; Connecticut--Rui Fernandes, Will Thornton. Attendance: 13,231.

UCLA -- 0 -- 2 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 2

Indiana -- 0 -- 2 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 1 -- 3

Second half: I -- Pat Noonan (Yuri Lavrinenko, Ryan Mack), 54:23; I -- Lavrinenko (Aleksey Korol, Tyler Hawley), 74:47; UCLA -- Steve Shak (Shaun Tsakiris, McKinley Tennyson Jr.), 76:33; UCLA -- Scot Thompson (Sasha Victorine), 82:14.

Overtime: I -- Mack (Noonan), 141:27.

Shots: UCLA 20, Indiana 18. Goalkeeper saves: UCLA (Nick Rimando) 6; Indiana (T.J. Hannig) 3. Corner kicks: UCLA 4, Indiana 11. Fouls: UCLA 13, Indiana 21. Yellow cards: UCLA--Ryan Futagaki; Indiana--Korol, Lavrinenko.
Attendance: 13,231.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Santa Clara -- 0 -- 0 -- 0

Indiana -- 1 -- 0 -- 1

First half: I -- Yuri Lavrinenko (Aleksey Korol), 29:50.

Shots: Santa Clara 7, Indiana 6. Goalkeeper saves: Santa Clara (Rusty Johnson) 1; Indiana (T.J. Hannig) 3. Corner kicks: Santa Clara 7, Indiana 4. Fouls: Santa Clara 14, Indiana 16. Yellow cards: Santa Clara--Michael Goehring; Indiana--Dennis Fadeski, Nick Garcia, Justin Tauber. Attendance: 15,439.