UCLA & UC Santa Barbara Complete Mens Final Four

Both UCLA and UC Santa Barbara had to post come from behind victories this weekend to give the west coast a pair of representatives in the next week's NCAA Mens College Cup in Saint Louis. The College Cup will be Virginia, Wake Forest, UCLA and UCSB.....2 teams from each coast.

The UC Santa Barbara men hosted a tough Northwestern squad on Saturday night and the Big Ten team would put up quite a fight. After a good Northwestern scoring chance went unrewarded in the 3rd minute it was UCSB that found the net first. In the 9th minute a perfect Bryan Byrne cross was put into an empty net by Tyler Rosenlund. Shortly after though Santa Barbara would give the hard earned goal right back with a defensive error. A turnover deep in their own half left Northwestern with a 2 on 1 which was perfectly executed. Carl Pett picked up the loose ball and raced in on the UCSB keeper who had no chance when Pett slid the ball square to Brad North who calmly slotted it home.

Photo By: Andy Meade/YCJ

Another UCSB mistake in the 19th minute put Northwestern in on goal again but a sliding defender saved the play at the last moment. The Wildcats continued to stand toe to toe with the Gauchos and a brilliant free kick from Gerardo Alvarez in the 38th minute would give the Big Ten team the halftime lead 2-1.

The Santa Barbara team regrouped at half and came out strong outside of the break. It took only 3 minutes for the home side to tie the game when Rosenlud scored his 2nd of the night as he finished a nice ball from Jon Curry. The 8,700 in attendance were sent into a frenzy minutes later as Rosenlud completed his hat trick collecting a ball at the top of the 18 and firing it into right corner of the net. Northwestern pushed but was unable to get the tying goal back as UCSB advances to the College Cup to play Wake Forest.

UCLA 3 Duke 2 extra time
UCLA had the daunting task of having to travel across the country to play at ACC power Duke. The Bruins looked timid from the start as Duke pounced on UCLA error and Spencer Wadsworth notched the game's first goal only 25 seconds in. Duke was enboldened by the quick goal and surged forward creating a few more scoring chances in the next minutes. In the 19th minute Duke doubled their lead as Chris Loftus buried a volley on a Wadsworth corner kick. As the match went 2-0 Duke seemed to relax and UCLA begain to claw their way back into the match. UCLA pressed the rest of the half and were rewarded in the 41st minute when Jason Leopoldo pushed in a cross as close range.

The late first half goal seemed to give UCLA even more hope heading into the final frame. UCLA came out looking for the equalizer in the 2nd half but Duke was to put up better resistance. Finally in the 78th minute UCLA cashed in their own corner kick as Sal Zizzo finished a well run short corner play. Duke was able to hold on at 2-2 sending the game to overtime but UCLA was clearly the aggressor. It took only 30 seconds of overtime for the Bruins to win it as Zizzo scored his 2nd on a cross from Jason Leopoldo. UCLA will face Virginia in the College Cup.