Indiana’s Soccer Team Kicks Mud in UCLA’s Eye and Wins Title, 2-1

In a grueling game, played under poor conditions, defending national champion Indiana beat UCLA, 2-1, to win the championship of the Met Life Pacific Classic soccer tournament Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 1,200 at UCLA’s North Field.

It was the Bruins’ first loss at home in the tournament’s three-year history.

After two days of steady rain, the field had been churned into a muddy mess. Only the two sidelines were still showing turf. The conditions slowed the game to a crawl at times and probably led to some of the roughness that marred the second half; IU had 22 fouls and UCLA 21.

Earlier, San Diego State beat Notre Dame, 1-0, in a game that was decided on a penalty kick. Curt Lewis scored the goal for the Aztecs.

Against UCLA, Hoosier freshman Ken Snow gave IU the early lead with a header over goalkeeper Drew Leonard.

The Bruins came back to tie it when a shot by Dana Keir deflected off Saun Del Grande.

Snow scored again at 47:51 in the second half. It was his 27th goal, which tied a school record for goals in a season. Snow was named the tournament’s most valuable offensive player.

“Today was better than yesterday,” said Indiana Coach Jerry Yeagley of the field conditions. “Today you could kick the ball on the ground and not have it stop in a puddle of water. The middle of the field was treacherous.”

The Bruins have been juggling lineups to accommodate injuries. And, with an important match next Wednesday against University of San Diego, Coach Sigi Schmid was rationing his better players Sunday.

Schmid kept Bill Thompson and Jeff Hooker, both high-scoring forwards, out of much of the first half. “I knew that if I started them both, I wouldn’t want to take them out,” Schmid said. “Since we played Yale (Sept. 24) we haven’t been able to start the same lineup twice.”

The Hoosiers, too, were adding to their lineup. Their starting forward, Pete Stoyanovich, flew here late Saturday night. Stoyanovich is the kicker for the IU football team.

With field conditions more suitable for mud wrestling, both teams were substituting liberally. Running in mud was more taxing than usual for the players, whose legs were leaden by the second half.

Indiana started well and controlled the game for the first 20 minutes. They also came back with a strong start in the second half to snuff out any Bruin attack.

“They looked flat to me the whole game,” Schmid said. “The last 20 minutes of the first half they put some things together.”

Named to the All-Tournament team were Hooker and Thompson of UCLA, Kyle Whittemore and Chris Keenan of San Diego State, Randy Morris and Paul LaVigne of Notre Dame and Paul Kapsalis, John Paul and Han Roest of Indiana. Will Steadman of UCLA was voted most valuable defensive player.