Broncos Split Two in Southern California

Men’s soccer opens conference play at 1-1Ivan MunozTHE SANTA CLARAOctober 10, 2013 The Santa Clara men’s soccer team commenced West Coast Conference play with two contrasting results this past weekend against the University of San Diego and Loyola Marymount University. The first WCC win came on Friday when senior Carlos Montes scored an overtime goal to give the Broncos the 1-0 edge over the San Diego Toreros. Santa Clara outshot the Toreros 13-10 and 7-3 in shots on goal. The match itself was a battle.After a physical 90 minutes of play that was filled with 25 fouls and five yellow cards, both sides went into the overtime period looking for a game-winning decision. Montes scored the decisive goal in overtime at the 94-minute mark.The senior forward stated that the goal was a team effort. “It was great,” said Montes. “The whole play was just a great play.” The play started when freshman defender Matt Steurer played a ball upfield to senior Keigo Kameya. The forward then sent a pass into San Diego’s box where sophomore Dylan Autran collected the ball and made the extra pass to set up Montes for the goal.  “(Kameya and Autran) both did all the work and I just made sure to push the ball in and get us the win and the goal,” said Montes. The senior’s emotions were running high when he saw the ball touch the back of the net. “It felt great just because it was an overtime victory and we had battled for around 94 minutes or so,” he said. “Getting that goal at that moment and knowing that the game is over and we had won was just a great feeling not only for me, but for the whole team.”  Sunday proved to be a difficult match for the Broncos as they were defeated 4-0 by Loyola Marymount University. With the loss, the Broncos started WCC play with a 1-1-0 record.Santa Clara failed to take a shot in the first half while Loyola fired nine towards the goal, netting one in the 25th minute.The second half was a repeat of the first, as the Broncos were outshot 10-3. The Lions rattled off three consecutive goals to start the second half of play, putting the game out of reach for the Santa Clara squad.Sophomore goalie Kendall McIntosh still remained positive after the loss to Loyola Marymount. “The game at LMU was not the best game collectively I think for the team, but there are definitely things that we could learn from it moving forward,” said McIntosh. “I think we just need to continue to keep it tight like we did in the USD game, and like we have been in previous games leading up to our first conference game.”As they have only played in two WCC games so far, the season is still young for the Broncos. Sophomore James Huffer has high expectations for the remainder of the season. “First off, we need to win WCC so we can make the tournament,” said Huffer. “Once we make the tournament, anything can happen from there, so we’re just working on winning WCC right now. We’re also working on finding a good style for our team and for our offense.”With much of the season still to be played, Montes mentioned some tactical improvements the team could make moving forward. He noted that moving the ball with more pace between the defenders, midfielders and forwards was a high priority. In addition, he said that players need to make attacking runs and find open holes in the defense to set up goal-scoring opportunities. The Broncos continue WCC play at Buck Shaw Stadium this upcoming Friday against the University of San Francisco. They will then travel to Saint Mary’s College on Sunday to take on the Gaels.Contact Ivan Munoz at imunoz@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.