Soccer Ties BYU in Crucial Match

Broncos beat USD 2-1, tie No. 5 BYU 0-0

Brent HanowerTHE SANTA CLARAOctober 29, 2015[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he No. 20 Broncos women’s soccer team tied a crucial conference game against No. 5 Brigham Young University on Saturday.

Before the important match, however, the Broncos (11-5-0) had to take care of business with University of San Diego (3-11-2) and won 2-1 at Stevens Stadium.

In Thursday’s win over USD, Gracie Cutler scored the first goal of the game, assisted by Megan Crosson. Julie Vass added a late game winner for the Broncos. Andi Tostanoski had three saves for the Broncos. Caitlin Kretzschmar scored the lone goal for the Toreros, and was assisted by Jacquelin Altschuld. Toreros goalie Michelle Craft had six saves. As a team, the Broncos capitalized on offensive opportunities, taking 22 shots, while the Toreros only managed four.

The Toreros took the lead early in the 25th minute following a corner kick. Altschuld took the corner for the Toreros and sent the ball into the crowded box, where Kretzschmar put it in the back of the net for a Toreros 1-0 lead.

In the second half, the Broncos evened the match in the 60th minute. Crosson brought the ball into the box and centered it on the ground to Cutler. She shot the ball, which hit the left post and deflected off the keeper before rolling in and tying the game 1-1.

Tostanoski came up clutch for the Broncos in the 71st minute. The Toreros’ Julianne De Armas snuck past the Broncos defense and was one-on-one with Tostanoski. De Armas took a shot to the low left post but Tostanoski denied the opportunity and preserved the tie.

In the 86th minute the Broncos took their first lead of the game, when Vass put them ahead. Cutler took a shot, which the Toreros keeper saved, however, the rebound landed at the feet of Vass who ripped a shot to back of the net, giving the Broncos a 2-1 lead that they held onto for the remainder of the game.

Saturday’s match against BYU was the last home game of the season for the Broncos, and the team recognized their four seniors prior to the game. Throughout the season, the Broncos have been led by seniors Megan Crosson, Ali Jones, Andi Tostanoski and Dani Weatherholt.

The Broncos and Cougars began the day locked in a three way tie for the  West Coast Conference lead along with University of San Francisco.

Santa Clara came close to upsetting the Cougars, but were unable to find the net. Crosson led the Broncos with two shots on goal, while goalkeeper Tostanoski had four saves. For the Cougars, four players had one shot on goal each, while their keeper Rachel Boaz had four saves.

The Broncos had a good opportunity to score in the 30th minute, due to a nifty play by Jenna Roering. A Cougar’s defender attempted to body Roering away from the ball before it went out of bounds. Roering was able to out position her and passed it to the middle where Jordan Jesolva one-timed a shot, which was stopped by Boaz.

Just prior to halftime, the Broncos had another opportunity when Vass passed a through ball to Roering in the box. However, Boaz was able to close out, resulting in a pretty save and a tied game 0-0 through the first half.

In overtime, Jenna Holtz nearly provided the Broncos with a game winner but missed by inches. Holtz took a shot from the top of the box, which rattled off the crossbar and bounced out before the Cougars were able to clear it.

Tostanoski came up huge in the 105th minute to keep the Broncos alive. BYU took a perfectly placed shot from outside the box. However Tostanoski punched the ball over the crossbar.

“I think our team collectively did a great job of shutting out BYU with our possession and work rate,” Weatherholt said. “In terms of our close opportunities, rather than being disappointed that our team didn’t put away our chances, our team is inspired to be better in those big moments. That inspiration led to a great practice today that had a lot of quality finishing. Every moment is a growing opportunity, and we grew today.”

By tying the Cougars 0-0, both teams are now tied for third in the conference with 4-1-1 league records. USF and LMU are now tied for first with 5-1 conference records.

“Not only were we able to battle with a highly ranked competitive BYU team, but I believe that our team was able to dominate and set the pace,” Weatherholt said. “Going forward, this gives us confidence that we too are a top 10 caliber team and have what it takes to finish out conference strong and make a deep run into the tournament.”

Subsequently, the Broncos moved up to being ranked the 15th best team in the nation, while the Cougars dropped to 13th.

The Broncos play at Saint Mary’s College (7-7-3) this Friday and then travel to  University of Pacific (3-10-1) on Sunday. Friday’s kickoff is set for 12:00 p.m.

Contact Brent Hanower at bhanower@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.