Return of Lapper Helps UCLA’s Soccer Chances

UCLA fullback Mike Lapper’s junior season for the nation’s second-ranked soccer team could have ended 90 minutes after it started.

But Lapper, in his first game for the Bruins since last winter, scored a goal to even the score, and one of his roommates, freshman midfielder Joe-Max Moore from Irvine, added the overtime winner in UCLA’s 2-1 playoff victory last Sunday over the University of San Diego.

That extended Lapper’s season by at least another 90 minutes, because the Bruins (16-1-3) meet No. 17 Southern Methodist (17-3-1) Sunday at 1 p.m. at UCLA’s North Soccer Field in the NCAA West Regional final. SMU upset No. 11 Fresno State, 2-1, last Sunday.

The UCLA-SMU winner advances to the Final Four tournament Dec. 1-2 in Tampa, Fla.

It was the prospect of playing for the national championship that motivated Lapper to return for the playoffs after missing the regular season to recover from a broken leg, although he could have stayed out and had two years of eligibility remaining. College players are given five years to complete four years of eligibility.

But Lapper has such a promising future in the sport that UCLA Coach Sigi Schmid didn’t figure the defender from Huntington Beach would remain on campus for two more years.

So, after receiving a doctor’s approval, Schmid gave Lapper the option of joining the team for the playoffs. “It was his decision,” Schmid said. “There’s no way I’d make a decision like that for a kid. But I talked about it with Mike. He’s going to do more than just play college soccer. He’s going to continue with the Olympic team, and he also has a future with the national team.

“If he’s playing in the Olympics in ‘92, I don’t think he’d come back to school that year. So we probably wouldn’t have had him here for a fifth year, anyway. If he had been a player whose highest level of soccer was going to be in college, I would have been more concerned.”

Lapper, 20, already is a member of the pool from which the under-23 team that will attempt to qualify for the 1992 Summer Olympics will be chosen. But he said that he wasn’t looking that far ahead when he made his decision.

“I want to be part of the national team and the Olympic team, but you never know what’s going to happen in the future,” he said. “The reason I came back is because I want the opportunity to play for a national championship. Even if I was still injured, I would have tried to come back.”

It was apparent to Lapper that he wasn’t still injured when he began practicing with the team about two weeks before the end of the regular season.

But just to be sure that he was ready, he asked his former club coach, Roger Wyett of the North Huntington Beach Untouchables, to work with him on his timing.

It paid off 15 minutes into the game against San Diego when Lapper scored from 15 yards out after a pass from Moore.

“I was looking for someone to pass to when Joe yelled, ‘Shoot it,’ ” Lapper said. “It wasn’t an ideal shot. I think it nicked one of their guys and went in. But it was a great feeling. What more can you ask for in your first game back?”

Although Lapper lines up on the offensive end for set plays, he made his reputation as a defender.

“He’s only 6 feet tall, but he’s an exceptional header of the ball,” Schmid said. “There are very few people in the country who can beat him in the air. He’s also a very determined tackler. When he makes his decision to tackle, you know he’s coming.”

One of those tackles went awry in last summer’s Olympic Festival at Minneapolis. Playing for the South team, he broke his leg while trying to steal the ball from a West forward. The forward was his UCLA teammate, junior Cobi Jones from Westlake Village.

“He thinks he’s pretty tough now,” Lapper said of Jones. “He’s still kidding me. He tells me, ‘If you don’t be quiet, I’m going to break your leg again.’ I don’t think I’ll ever hear the end of it.”