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2003 NCAA Division I Men's Tournament Scoreboard
2003 NCAA Division I Women's Tournament Scoreboard
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Bracket Men's College Cup New Indiana era begins with another NCAA title, edging UCSB in shootout.
Under first-year coach Mike Freitag, who took over for his legendary mentor Jerry Yeagley, fourth-ranked Indiana defended its Division I championship, defeating No. 2 California-Santa Barbara 3-2 in a penalty-kicks tiebreaker after the two schools played a 1-1 draw before 13,601 at Home Depot Center this afternoon. After junior forward Mike Ambserley gave IU a 3-2 lead to begin the fifth round of penalty kicks, senior goalkeeper Jay Nolly dove to his left to deny Nate Boyden's attempt, his second consecutive save of the shootout, to give the Hoosiers the crown. "I never really look at the moves. My focus is really on the ball," Nolly said., "I get a read right away on what I'm going to do and what side I'm going to and then I stick with it. Those last two I felt they were going that way. I went all out for them and the ball was there." Sophomore striker Jacob Peterson gave Indiana a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. Senior forward Drew McAthy put away a rebound to equalize for UCSB (20-3-1) in the 82nd minute. Yeagley started the IU program and retired after 31 years at the helm by leading the Hoosiers to their sixth national championship, defeating St. John's 2-01 in the 2003 final. Freitag, who was a standout defender for the Hoosiers for four years (1976-79), went on to serve as a graduate assistant coach (1983-1986) and served as a full-time assistant for 11 years (1993-2003) before replacing Yeagley. During Freitag's time as an assistant, IU took four national titles -- 1983, 1998, 1999 and 2003. "It feels kind of weird," Freitag said. "As the assistant coach, I'd be running around like crazy. But I'm not overly excited right now. It was meant to be, I think." UCSB nearly took a lead in the sixth minute when senior striker Neil Jones' hit the right post with a diving header from 10 yards. Five minutes later, UCSB keeper Dan Kennedy was well-positioned to snag IU junior defender Jordan Chirico's angled shot from the right side of the penalty area. Seven minutes later, Peterson worked into the right side of the box after a give-and-go with Ambersley, but his shot from a sharper angle was easily turned away by Kennedy. In the 27th minute, Hoosiers sophomore defender Jed Zayner gained control of the ball at the midfield strip and carried into the attacking half before perfectly leading Peterson with a low pass. Peterson, who had separated himself from freshman defender Andy Iro, stretched out his right leg and used his first touch to toe poke the ball past a charging Kennedy into the right corner of the net for his 11th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead. "It's all kind of a blur right now," Peterson said. "I think Jed took it up and played a great ball in. The keeper was out so I just tried to go over him. I just saw him coming off his line. The coaches talked to me about how the keeper likes to come out early so I just tried to get it over." Kennedy said, ""It was my mistake. I got out of position and misjudged the speed of the ball. I got a finger on it, but he got a foot on it. It was my fault." In the 34th minute, McAthy worked hard in tight quarters to trigger a hard shot from the top of the box, but Nolly dropped quickly to his right to snare the 16-yard effort. The Hoosiers almost extended their lead in the 60th minute when John Michael Hayden beat a pair of defenders deep into the left side of the box before making a clever back-heel to junior midfielder Brian Plotkin. Plotkin drilled his shot from 12 yards high, directly at Kennedy, who held his ground and parried the ball into the air before cradling it. Seven minutes later, with UCSB pushing forward hard, IU junior forward Pat Yates was able to get a step on the Gauchos defense as he caught up with a long lead pass. Yates carried for 40 yards, but his shot from 18 yards out was weak and easily scooped up by Kennedy. UCSB increasingly applied pressure and wasted a prime opportunity in the 75th when McAthy's sent a free kick from a yard above the top right of the box well over the left corner of the net. Finally, the Gauchos' relentless attack paid off. Nolly went high to punch away a long free kick into his box, but lost his footing as he landed. Iro drilled a low shot into a wall of the defenders with the ball caroming away. McAthy chased down the rolling ball, pivoted and nailed a 12-yard right-footer just inside the left post before Nolly could fully recover. McAthy's 18th goal made it 1-1 with 8:59 left on the clock. While UCSB was the more dangerous team throughout the 20 minutes of sudden death, neither team produced a particularly dangerous opportunity in extra time. "Obviously this is a very disappointing loss, but I thought we played well today," UCSB coach Tim Vom Steeg said. "Indiana is a good team, but I thought after that goal we had a good shot. (We are) resilient, we work hard and are committed, and I thought we could wear them down. In the second half, we had good opportunities, and in overtime we kept coming." The Gauchos brought in reserve keeper Kyle Reynish for the penalty kicks and the sophomore made two saves, including a dive to his left to stop Drew Moor on the shootout's first kick. McAthy then put UCSB ahead 1-0. Hayden beat Reynish on the next attempt for the Hoosiers while Jones missed high and to the left to keep the score at 1-1. Senior forward Greg Badger made it 2-1 for IU with junior midfielder Ivan Becerra countering for the Gauchos to make it 2-2. Reynish and Nolly each came up with saves in the fourth round, setting up Ambersley's decisive tally and Nolly's winning save. "We kept fighting until the end and ended up being champions," Freitag said. |
