No luck for the Irish, Santa Clara trounces Notre Dame

By Cecile Nguyen

The No. 3 Santa Clara women's soccer team defeated No. 2 Notre Dame 7-1 during the opening day of the eighth annual Santa Clara Adidas Classic at Buck Shaw Stadium, held Sept. 7 through Sept. 9.

"I have to give a lot of credit to the players," Head Coach Jerry Smith said after the game. "They really came together tonight. They played tough tonight. I'm really proud of them."

With the win, the Broncos jumped into No. 1 in the national polls and jump-started what they hope will be yet another West Coast Conference Championship.

Sophomore forward Kiki Bosio and senior midfielder Brittany Klein each recorded two goals and an assist in the blowout.

The Broncos' seven goals were the most in a regular season game since they scored nine goals against San Jose State in the 2003 season.

It was Bosio who drew first blood for Santa Clara, hunting down her own throw-in pass and netting it at the 15 minute mark for the first goal of the match.

Bosio was again in the scoring mix when she assisted in sophomore defender Courtney Lewis' goal to extend the Broncos' lead.

"She (Bosio) is off to a great start," Smith said. "Tonight she handled the ball really well under pressure."

In an attempt to shake up his players, Notre Dame Head Coach Randy Waldrum subbed in two reserves after the Broncos' second goal. The Irish responded minutes later as Michele Weissenhofer scored their first and only goal of the night on a penalty kick.

The Broncos then went on to net five more unanswered goals.

"To limit the star-studded front line that includes a 2006 National Player of the Year to just one goal is amazing," said Smith.

Senior forward Meagan Snell recorded her first goal of the season after coming off the bench in the first half.

With an assist from senior captain Brittany Klein, Snell struck again in the second half, starting another scoring fest and extending Santa Clara's lead to 4-1.

Next, it was Klein's turn to destroy the Irish defense, scoring back-to-back goals.

"Brittany (Klein) has amazing leadership," Smith said. "She has great composure and knows when and how to do the right thing at the right moment."

Bosio scored her second goal shortly after, the Broncos' seventh of the night. Cheers and chants of "overrated" erupted after that final goal as Santa Clara fans cheered their team to victory in the final minutes of play.

The win improved the Broncos' record to 9-2-0 in the all-time series versus Notre Dame and gave them momentum heading into their final match of the tournament against the University of Virginia on the second day of play.

Santa Clara fought hard against the Cavaliers in a back-and-forth game and came away with a 0-0 tie after two extra periods.

"Both teams were very tough defensively," Smith said.

Santa Clara goalkeeper Meagan McCray finished the tournament with 11 saves and just one goal against.

Klein, Bosio and Snell received all-tournament team honors for their play in the match versus Notre Dame.

Stanford, who also played in the four-team tournament, took home top honors after beating both Virginia and Notre Dame.

"We are going to build on the momentum that was established this weekend," Smith said following the Virginia match-up. "We need to go into next weekend's games with an underdog mindset, as we did Friday night against Notre Dame. If we step our game up and keep in mind how difficult and precious it is to win, we'll do fine."

The Broncos claimed their ninth outright WCC championship in 2006 and earned a No. 1 seed heading into the NCAA tournament. The Broncos were eventually bounced from the first round of the tournament by USC.

The Broncos will look to improve on their 4-0-1 record as they take on both Arizona and Arizona State this weekend.

Contact Cecile Nguyen at (408) 551-1918 or cnguyen5@scu.edu.