Women's soccer suffers tough draw
By Josh Griffin
In their final regular season game of the year, the Santa Clara women's soccer team defeated Colorado College 4-0 on Saturday night at Buck Shaw Stadium.
The final regular season match was also Senior Night for the Broncos, which honored Kerry Cathcart, Ynez Carrasco, Anna Kraus, Katie Sheppard and Danielle Slaton prior to the game.
The first half was very competitive, as represented by the 0-0 halftime score. However, the Broncos came out of the midpoint break with a higher level of offensive efficiency. Junior midfielder Devvyn Hawkins opened the scoring in the 51st minute on a shot assisted by Slaton and freshman forward Leslie Osborne.
Osborne ended up stealing the spotlight from the team's seniors by adding two additional goals to go with the assist on the game-winning goal. Sophomore Kristi Candau closed out the scoring in the 84th minute off an assist by sophomore Veronica Zepeda to bring the score to its final status.
Junior goalkeeper Erin Sharpe received the start over the injured freshman Alyssa Sobolik. Sharpe and Carrasco shared the shutout in a match where the Bronco defense allowed only one shot on goal. Additionally, junior All-American Aly Wagner did not play due to a hip flexor injury.
"We played a good game against a solid Colorado College team that really challenged us," Head Coach Jerry Smith said. "I think we underestimated their talent in the first half, as shown by the 0-0 halftime score. We really picked it up in the second half. We were happy to play Carrasco in the game at the end of her senior season."
On Monday, the NCAA announced its national tournament bracket. In a move that brought aggravation to all associated with the Santa Clara women's soccer team, the NCAA assigned the Broncos to a first and second round bracket to be played in Champaign, Ill. As a result, Santa Clara is the second seed in the entire tournament and will be the only team in the nation's top eight to travel for the first round.
"Generally, as one of the top four teams, we should have both home-field advantage and weaker competition. We are very disappointed that we were not given the opportunity to both play at home and against less talented teams," Smith added.
The NCAA announced before the brackets were announced that there would be considerations given to minimizing travel for the tournament. Considering that the Broncos' bracket includes Evansville, Syracuse and Illinois, this is perplexing.
"The NCAA has punished the nation's second seeded team in order to have one less team flying [Evansville will bus]. I don't see that as really making a difference in the overall tournament planning, and definitely don't see it as an adequate way to deal with the tragedies of Sept. 11," Smith added.
Santa Clara will open tournament action against Evansville at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time at the Soccer and Track Stadium of the University of Illinois. The winner of that game will play the winner of Friday's Illinois/Syracuse match on Sunday at noon.