Broncos defeat Dayton at tournament
By Bruce Martinez
Santa Clara's women's soccer team continued its strong season with a 3-1 victory over Dayton September 21st at the Stanford Nike Tournament at New Maloney field.
The victory pushed the Broncos to a 4-1 record on the season and allowed them to continue as the nation's No. 6 ranked team, and the number four ranked team on the west coast, behind only UCLA, Portland, and Stanford.
The overmatched Dayton side was dominated by the Broncos statistically throughout the game. Santa Clara led in total shots 15-3, corner kicks 10-1 and freshman goalie Alyssa Sobolik did not have to make any saves in the game, continueing her strong play on the season. Dayton did however played the Broncos to a 1-1 stalemate until late in the second period.
In the 86th minute freshman Leslie Osborne scored on a header on a cross off the foot of junior Ally Wagner. Osborne put the ball into the far corner of the goal in a play that was a near duplicate of the goal she scored against Cal earlier in the season.
Less than two minutes later, freshman Lana Bowen scored on a Veronica Zepeda corner kick. Zepeda sent the ball towards the goal and it bounced off of Dayton keeper Stephanie Weisenfeld, Bowen easily put back the rebound providing the Broncos an insurance goal.
"Like many teams in the country, Dayton is a very organized, very good defensive team. They don't have much flash or attacking power, but they are organized defensively. This makes them very difficult to score upon," Santa Clara Head Coach Jerry Smith said.
Next up for the Broncos is the Santa Clara Adidas Classic at Buck Shaw stadium this weekend. The team will have strong competition from Southern Methodist University and San Diego State. These games should help the Broncos get into a strong position going into the conference season, and will help start the process of qualifying for the NCAA's.
"This weekend's tournament often launches the team into a groove that can carry for quite a while. We're looking forward to getting back on track and regaining the momentum we had earlier in the season," Coach Smith said. "This momentum is important for programs like ours because we are almost certain of a berth in the NCAA tournament, and how well you play in the post season is in direct relation to how well you play going in, so getting into a groove is very important for our team."
The Broncos also have added a match against the Fresno State Bulldogs on Oct. 9 . This match will make up for the Dartmouth and Notre Dame games, both which were lost due to the cancellations of games in the wake of the Sept. 11 tradegy.