Coming through in the Clutch

By Josh Griffin

Any doubts of the potential for excellence of the 2001 Santa Clara women's soccer team have been put down by yet another remarkable week.

In two of its biggest games of the season, the women defeated UCLA and Saint Mary's, who both entered the week undefeated and ranked among the nation's top seven. Both can now attribute the season's first loss to the Santa Clara Broncos.

The women's team, which entered Thursday's match with UCLA ranked third nationally, defeated the Bruins 3-0 on Thursday evening at Buck Shaw Stadium. They bounced back to defeat Saint Mary's 1-0 on the road Sunday afternoon on a goal scored by junior midfielder Aly Wagner. Santa Clara now has a 13-1 record overall on the season, including a 3-0 mark in conference play. Their only loss on the season came at the hands of Cal.

The Thursday game between perennial powers matched the nations' top-rated offense of Santa Clara against UCLA's third-rated defense. Senior defender Danielle Slaton scored the game-winning goal in the seventh minute on a corner kick play with Wagner. Slaton made a short pass off the corner to Wagner, who returned the ball to Slaton at the corner of the penalty box where the senior Olympian sent a high shot off the far post and past the goalie.

At the half, each team had six shots, but Santa Clara rattled off five more in the first ten minutes of the second half. Wagner scored the second goal, off an assist from freshman defender Holly Azevedo. Wagner then concluded the scoring with her twelfth goal of the season off yet another corner kick. Freshman goalie Alyssa Sobolik played the entire game to register her fourth shutout of the season and move her season record to 8-1.

Head Coach Jerry Smith said, "Clutch is the perfect word to describe them [Wagner and Slaton]. They are two great players, and more importantly are incredible leaders. They are not intimidated by big games, and when it comes down to crunch time in a game, you want the game in the hands of Aly and Danielle."

The Sunday afternoon match in Moraga brought a more low scoring battle between two of the best teams in the West Coast Conference. Wagner scored the deciding goal in the 1-0 final on a direct kick in the 89th minute of competition. The free kick was set up when sophomore forward Veronica Zepeda was fouled and brought to the ground by the Gaels' Jessica Poole approximately 20 yards from the goal.

The contest was extremely physical, with Santa Clara registering 25 fouls and Saint Mary's finishing with 21 on the day. The shots were also in favor of Santa Clara, 11-7. The shutout of the Gaels marks the Broncos fourth shutout in as many games, as well as their eighth shutout on the season.

"We knew the defense would have to play well to win, as always. We have been alternating goalies [between Sobolik and junior Erin Sharpe], and both are gaining their first experience starting," Smith said. "On the defensive line, we start two seniors [Slaton and Anna Kraus] along with two freshmen in Lana Bowen and Jessica Ballweg. The experience of the seniors has helped allow the freshmen to not play like freshmen."

These two games represented an integral part of the Broncos' season, one that has brought many challenging matchups. The team has now faced Stanford, California, Saint Mary's, and UCLA, all of which were in the top ten at the time of the game. But, in preparation for the upcoming NCAA tournament, the team strives to face tough competition.

"I was more worried about the Saint Mary's match than the UCLA game," Smith said. "Saint Mary's has a style that could have been troublesome, and as they haven't been as successful of late as UCLA, there was the possibility of a letdown, had the team allowed it."

Smith added, "We always try to play as many top teams as possible. However, it can be difficult because [Associate Hea Coach] Rich Manning schedules game about two years in advance. For instance, two years ago, UCLA was not a national power, but last year they reached the College Cup finals."

The Broncos continue their season this weekend in southern California, against Loyola Maramount and Pepperdine.