By Anita Chang
The Associated Press

DALLAS - For the third time this season UCLA defeated Stanford 1-0. For the first time, the Bruins came away national champions.

Defender Aaron Lopez scored in the 89th minute as UCLA beat Stanford on Sunday in the NCAA College Cup to win the men's soccer national championship.

"Not the prettiest game these guys have played or I've coached," UCLA coach Tim Fitzgerald said. "I told them if it was ugly we needed to win it."

Lopez's goal made sure of that. The defenseman knocked in a free kick from midfielder Ryan Futagaki into the right corner of the goal.

"It was my run and I saw the ball and I knocked it in," said Lopez, the tournament's offensive MVP.

That was all the Bruins (18-3-3) would need as goalie Zach Wells, the tournament's defensive MVP, recorded his first shutout of the tournament.

All three games between the teams this season were decided late. In the first regular season game on Oct. 18, Jimmy Frazelle scored in overtime to give UCLA the win. In a Nov. 10 game, Cliff McKinley clinched the game with a goal in the 77th minute.

"It's been the same. It's been a battle," Futagaki said. "From the first to last minute it's been a challenge."

It's been maddening for Stanford coach Bret Simon.

"We had chances to win that disappeared in the blink of an eye," he said.

Stanford's (18-5-2) best chance to score was when Taylor Graham sent a header toward UCLA's goal in the sixth minute. The header from the 6-foot-4 Graham was knocked down and kicked away by Frazelle, who was guarding the right post.

Neither team got many scoring opportunities during the game as both defenses dominated play.

"We have three brilliant marking backs. Stanford has four very good backs as well," Wells said. "They didn't make many defensive mistakes and neither did we."