IU knocks off No. 1

Once IU surrendered an early goal to UCLA on the road Saturday, most people probably thought the Hoosiers' chances of winning weren't that good.\nAfter all, the Bruins were unbeaten in their last 19 matches, a stretch that included 18 wins and last year's national championship.\nBut the early deficit didn't intimidate the IU men's soccer team.\nThe No. 8 seeded Hoosiers upended the No. 1 seed UCLA Bruins, 2-1, Saturday night in Los Angeles, securing the Hoosiers' 16th trip to the College Cup in the college soccer final four's 31-year history.\nIU coach Jerry Yeagley was coaching in what could have been his last game, as he is set to retire at the end of the season, but the IU players gave him the chance to coach at least one more contest.\nThe Hoosiers (15-3-5) broke through and defeated the defending national champions in the 78th minute at Drake Stadium. Freshman forward Jacob Peterson fired a shot from the right side, and it hit the top right corner of the crossbar. Sophomore midfielder Pat Yates rebounded the miss and hit the ball into the goal, breaking the tie and securing the upset victory. It was his sixth goal of the season. Yates had one goal all of last season. \n"It was a great game between two great teams," Yeagley said. "The stats bear that out. It was an open game. It was a great game for the fans. It's one of those games you want to keep going."\nIU advances to play Santa Clara (16-3-4) in the Final Four in a national semifinal at either 5 p.m or 7:30 p.m. Friday in Columbus, Ohio. If the Hoosiers win against the Broncos, they will play Sunday in the National Championship game.\nIU owns a 16-game unbeaten streak, including two comeback wins in the team's three tournament victories. Yates said Peterson aided his effort at the game-winning goal.\n"Peterson played it out by hitting it off the crossbar," Yates said. "I was making a run through. It was a huge boost going up 2-1."\nAfter IU's go-ahead goal, the Bruins (20-2-1) clawed their way back, including a free kick that missed just wide right of the goal with 34 seconds remaining. But IU would thwart the scoring threats and hang on for the 2-1 victory.\nUCLA scored first in the match when freshman forward Chad Barrett fired a shot from near the 18-yard mark on the right side into the back left side of the goal in the 11th minute.\nDespite being down early on the road, the Hoosiers didn't panic and fought back. IU came back to tie the contest at half, 1-1. Freshmen midfielder John Michael Hayden evened the match at one goal apiece just four minutes after UCLA's score. Hayden chipped the ball into the box and it deflected off a defender and bounced into the back right side of the net in the 15th minute. It was the first goal of Hayden's career.\nYates said the win is why the team works so hard in the off season.\n"It's great," Yates said. "This is what you work your whole life for."\nIU tallied 11 shots to UCLA's 10 and attempted six corner kicks, while giving up five. The Hoosiers also managed one more shot on goal.\nJunior goalkeeper Jay Nolly finished the match with three saves. \nYeagley said Nolly wasn't required to do a lot, but during the dangerous situations he came up big. \nThe Hoosiers last won the national title in 1999 and last played in the College Cup in 2001 but lost in the championship match. The Hoosiers defeated UCLA in the national semifinals in 1999 in four overtimes, 3-2, and went on win the National Championship over Santa Clara.\nIU's match at UCLA was its first on the road in this year's tournament, as the Hoosiers recorded home wins over Kentucky and the No. 9 seed Virginia Commonwealth.\nPeterson said the environment at Drake Stadium wasn't all that different from Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington.\n"The atmosphere was great," Peterson said. "Our band was there. We had lots of alumni in the stands. It felt like a home game."\nYeagley, who was named the winningest coach in Division I soccer history last week, said IU proved its doubters wrong.\n"A lot of people felt we'd be up against it," Yeagley said. "But we weren't. Not too many people gave us a chance out there. It was the shocker of the tournament"