Soccer Continues Dominance

Broncos finish regular season home schedule with winsIvan MunozTHE SANTA CLARANovember 7, 2013[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he women’s soccer team remained undefeated in conference play after two games this past weekend. On Friday, the Broncos defeated Loyola Marymount University 2-0, and blew out Pepperdine University on Senior Day by a wide margin of 9-2. In the past three matches, the squad has scored 20 goals. After taking a strike from outside the box, freshman Jordan Jesolva scored the first Santa Clara goal against LMU in the 23rd minute. Throughout the first half, the Broncos demonstrated their offensive dominance over LMU, outshooting the Lions 17-4. Santa Clara continued on the attack in the second half. In the second 45 minutes of play, the Broncos outshot the Lions 18-2. In the 89th minute, junior Sofia Huerta blasted the ball past the opposing goalkeeper to increase the lead to 2-0. The remaining seconds ran off the clock and Santa Clara won by the two-goal margin.  On Sunday, the Broncos played their last home game of the regular season. It was a nostalgic day for the senior class as it was their final opportunity to play a regular season game at Buck Shaw Stadium as Santa Clara athletes. The match itself began in favor of Pepperdine. The Waves quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead with scores in the fifth and 17th minute. “Obviously, starting out 2-0 on Senior Day isn’t the most ideal situation, but I think our team handled it really well,” said Huerta. “I don’t think there was ever a time where our team was not composed or thought that we were going to lose the game.”The Broncos eventually evened the score by halftime from goals by Johnston and Marlborough in the 21st and 28th minute respectively. “Knowing that we were down 2-0, I looked at (Huerta) and I told her ‘this is not us,’” said Marlborough. “We just knew that we had to score or we were going to lose, and so we took that as our own personal responsibility and took care of that.”Before the Broncos could complete that mission in the second half, Santa Clara honored  former women’s soccer player Mandy Clemens during halftime. While she played for the Broncos, Clemens won the NCAA Player of the Year in 1999. Following the break in action, the Broncos came out and controlled the second half. Marlborough gave the Broncos their first lead with a goal in the 49th minute. She stole the ball from the Pepperdine goalkeeper to put it in the back of the net. Moments later, Huerta put the fourth Bronco goal away after a transition in the run of play. Huerta received the ball, dribbled and scored her 10th goal of the season. Marlborough scored again in the 54th minute, completing her hat trick and put ting the score at 5-2 in favor of the Broncos. “On my third goal, (Huerta) shot it and I just got the rebound, so she started it all, and I think that it was just a really good team effort,” said Marlborough.Jesolva scored off a cross from Marlborough to push the lead to 6-2 and then Birgel blasted a shot 25 yards away from the goal that eventually found the net. After 62 minutes, Santa Clara led by five goals. The eighth goal arrived due to the effort of Rice. She dribbled the ball to the final line inside the Pepperdine box, crossed the ball and teammate Johnston did the rest, striking the ball with her head into the opponent’s net. The ninth and final goal came off a shot from Huerta that was redirected off a Pepperdine defender into the net. Marlborough was proud of the team’s strong effort on Sunday. “We were just happy we showed good character traits, hard work and never gave up to come back from a deficit and score nine goals,” said Marlborough. The team plays the University of Portland tonight in an important game that could determine the winner of the West Coast Conference. It will be nationally televised on ESPNU. Contact Ivan Munoz at imunoz@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.