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BRUINS MOURN FITZGERALD FORMER UCLA SOCCER COACH KILLED ON EVE OF WOMEN'S FINAL.


Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News.

Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian.
 Staff Writer

Tom Fitzgerald Tom Fitzgerald can refer to:
  • Tom Fitzgerald (soccer), an American soccer coach from Florida
  • Tom Fitzgerald (hockey), retired ice hockey player for the Boston Bruins and other teams
  • Tom Fitzgerald (Reporter), a television newscaster
, who coached UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles
UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University)
UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX
 to the 2002 national championship in men's soccer, was killed Saturday morning in a motorcycle accident just south of Tampa, Fla.

Fitzgerald's death came on the eve On the Eve (Накануне in Russian) is the third novel by famous Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, best known for his short stories and the novel Fathers and Sons.  of the Bruins' clash with Notre Dame in the NCAA NCAA
abbr.
National Collegiate Athletic Association
 Division I women's soccer championship game today in Cary, N.C.

``It's just devastating dev·as·tate  
tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates
1. To lay waste; destroy.

2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark.
,'' said UCLA women's coach Jillian Ellis, a close friend of Fitzgerald's for 10 years. ``Tom was such a kind soul in the soccer world, but he was also very proud to be a Bruin, and I know he'd want us to go out there and compete and do our best. ... The team all knew him, and the thing about Tom was he was the type who knew everybody's names and faces.''

Fitzgerald, 53, was 38-5-4 in two seasons at UCLA, earning acclaim as the NSCAA/Adidas national coach of the year in 2002 and Pacific-10 Conference coach of the year in 2003. He resigned after the 2003 season to return to the University of Tampa The University of Tampa, or UT, is a private, co-educational university in downtown Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2006, the University celebrated its 75th anniversary. , which he had led to the Division II title in 1994, to be closer to his two sons and two grandchildren in Tampa. The Spartans were 6-9-1 this season.

Tampa athletic director Larry Marfise said Fitzgerald was en route to a tournament in Brandenton, Fla., when his motorcycle was hit by a sport-utility vehicle around 10 a.m. EST EST electroshock therapy.

EST
abbr.
electroshock therapy
. He was taken to Tampa General Hospital and died early Saturday afternoon.

``We were ecstatic to have him back, and he'd just turned the corner on the program and had it back on the right track,'' Marfise said. ``I can't say enough good things about him. He had this charisma that would light up a room. You only meet people like Tom a few times in your life ... I'm really going to miss him.''

UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo had known Fitzgerald since 1990, when he played for the coach on a U.S. youth national team. Salcedo played in 1997 for Fitzgerald with the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer and was Fitzgerald's top assistant at UCLA in 2002-03 before succeeding him as head coach this season.

``It's very sad right now,'' Salcedo said. ``But the thing Tom always brought to everyone's lives was a lot of laughter and happiness and good, and I hope that once everyone gets over the sadness, hopefully, that's what they remember of Tom because he was a very good man.''

Fitzgerald had a 97-97-11 record was head coach of the Crew from 1996 to 2001, and he was 176-46-16 in 12 years as a college head coach. He guided the Crew to three consecutive Eastern Conference finals (1997-99) and to the 1998 U.S. Open Cup final.

UCLA's women (18-6) are making their second NCAA title appearance, after losing in 2000. The Bruins have not surrendered a goal in five playoff matches and are led by forwards Bristyn Davis and Iris Mora MORA, In civil law. This term, in mora, is used to denote that a party to a contract, who is obliged to do anything, has neglected to perform it, and is in default. Story on Bailm. Sec. 123, 259; Jones on Bailm. 70; Poth. Pret a Usage, c. 2, Sec. 2, art. 2, n. , a Mexican national-teamer, midfielder Jill Oakes and defender Kendal Billingsley.

Ramona Shelburne, (818) 713-3617

ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

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NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER FINAL
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Title Annotation:Sports
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Dec 5, 2004
Words:522
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