UCLA 1, Stanford 0
Monday December 16, 2002By ANITA CHANG
Associated Press Writer
DALLAS (AP) First-year UCLA coach Tom Fitzgerald was close to leaving soccer entirely at this time last year.
He had been fired as coach of Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew and wondered what his future held.
``I didn't know if I was going to coach again,'' Fitzgerald said. ``I got my real estate license and started doing some other things,''
He made the right decision somewhere along the way. The Bruins (18-3-3) won the NCAA College Cup with a 1-0 victory Sunday over Pacific-10 rival Stanford (18-5-2).
Defender Aaron Lopez knocked in a free kick from midfielder Ryan Futagaki with one touch into the right corner of the goal with 1:02 left.
The victory was UCLA's third over Stanford this season, each won 1-0 in waning moments of the match.
``In games against UCLA this year, we had chances to win that disappeared in the blink of an eye,'' Stanford coach Bret Simon said.
In the first game on Oct. 18, Jimmy Frazelle scored in overtime. In the second game, on Nov. 10, Cliff McKinley sent a hard shot into the left corner of the net in the 77th minute.
Defense again was the key Sunday.
``We have three brilliant marking backs. Stanford has four very good backs as well,'' said UCLA goalkeeper Zach Wells, voted the tournament's defensive MVP. ``They didn't make many defensive mistakes and neither did we.''
Both teams had a few good scoring chances.
Futagaki rocketed off a line drive from 25 yards out in the 31st minute that ricocheted off the left post.
Defender Taylor Graham almost scored for Stanford in the sixth minute of the game.
He headed a corner kick from midfielder Johanes Maliza toward the center of the goal. At 6-foot-4, Graham had a height advantage over shorter Bruin defenders.
Graham's header was knocked down and kicked away by Frazelle, who was guarding the right post.
The Bruins took home their fourth NCAA title. They also won in 1985, 1990 and 1997.
(