Things looked bleak after Santa Clara men’s soccer surrendered a penalty to the University of San Francisco Dons just 19 minutes into their match on Sept. 30—causing them to fall behind 1-0. Already down a man after Moises Almontes ’29 was issued a straight red card in the sixth minute, the Broncos needed to dig deep to recover from the early deficit.
Head coach Cameron Rast went to his bench early, bringing on Gabrielius Mazona ’29 and Bradley Roberson ’30, hoping to shift the tide. Roberson did just that, scoring his first career goal as a Bronco in the 29th minute to tie the game 1-1, off a beautiful assist from senior captain Will Wiersdorf ’27.
When asked how Rast kept his team in the game mentally after the early red card and three first-half video reviews, graduate student goalie Jackson Ozburn ’27 said, “Our coach was saying, don’t play the victim; you’ve got to fight back.” Calls had not been going in the Broncos’ favor, and the home crowd voiced their frustration throughout.
Ozburn came up clutch all game, highlighted by an outstanding save on a penalty after he took a controversial yellow in the 68th minute. USF forward David Rapheal scored the first penalty for his WCC-leading seventh goal of the year, but was denied on his second attempt.
When asked about his mindset toward the penalty, Ozburn said he went with the scouts’ advice. “Our scout said that he would go right, and he went middle on the first one, so I just went right, like the scout said, and I got lucky and made a save,” said Ozburn.
Ozburn faced 29 shots, 10 of those on goal, and left Wednesday’s game with a new career-high of eight saves in a single game.
Ozburn laid out his goals for the season, “I just want to push my team as far as we can, and the goal is at least make the conference tournament, if not win the conference,” Ozburn said “It’s my last year, so I’m really hoping for the best for everyone, and I think everyone’s in the same boat.”
The Broncos now sit 3-5-2 and 0-0-2 in WCC play. USF also leaves Wednesday’s game with two ties in conference play for an overall record of 4-4-3, 0-0-2.
Santa Clara will face the University of Pacific (1-7-3, 0-0-1) on Saturday, Oct. 3, in Stockton, California, looking for their first conference win of the season.