Women cruise through road trip

By Brian Elsner

Building on the momentum of two early goals, the women's soccer team went on to record a 5-0 victory over Pepperdine last Sunday in Malibu.

The win improved the Broncos overall record to 17-0-0 and 4-0-0 in West Coast Conference play.Just six minutes into the match, Santa Clara held a 1-0 lead as junior forward Kathleen Celio headed in a goal off of a throw-in from senior defender Kim Pickup. Continuing the high-powered offensive attack, the Broncos added another score in the 11th minute before most fans had even taken their seats. Sophomore defender Danielle Slaton and redshirt freshman midfielder Aly Wagner assisted on senior All-American forward Mandy Clemens' 16th goal of the season for an early 2-0 lead.

"The longer we wait to score, the more momentum they (Pepperdine) get," Wagner said. "If we score early, then we can take away their hopes of winning."

Senior midfielder Whitney Hollis notched a goal three minutes before the end of the first half to give the Broncos a 3-0 lead at the break. The second half proved to be no problem for Santa Clara as junior goalkeeper Crystal Gordon warded off all of Pepperdine's attempts at a goal, recording six saves in the match.

Sophomore midfielder Kerry Cathcart scored her first collegiate goal on an assist from Clemens. For Clemens, it was her 57th career assist, tying her with Santa Clara alum Jen Lalor ('96) for the all-time WCC record.

"Mandy is a very unique player," Wagner said. "She is a forward, but she is incredibly unselfish and it shows in her getting the record."

Junior forward Rachel Weber netted her fourth goal of the season as the Broncos went on to win the contest easily. The large margin of victory was even more impressive considering the Broncos were playing without two key starters, senior forward Jacqui Little and senior defender Kylie Bivens.

At 20:35 in the first half against the Lions on Friday, Little got into an argument with the referee over the physical play of Loyola-Marymount. After words were exchanged, Little received a red card, thus disqualifying her from the game and forcing Santa Clara to play with one less player on the field for the rest of the match. Fortunately for the Broncos, Little scored her 12th goal of the season in the sixth minute and senior midfielder Nikki Serlenga recorded a goal in the 10th minute to give Santa Clara an early 2-0 lead.

With only 10 players, the Broncos continued to stiffle the Lion defense. Nine minutes after Little's ejection, Bivens assisted Clemens on a goal to give Santa Clara a 3-0 lead at the end of the first half. The second half proved to be more of a challenge for the Broncos. Despite the player disadvantage, 72 minutes into the match freshman midfielder Devvyn Hawkins scored her sixth goal of the season on an assist from sophomore defender Anna Kraus. The victory turned out to be twice as sweet for Santa Clara.

"We wanted to prove something against (Lion goalkeeper Tracy) Sharp," Little said. "We wanted to do it for Crystal (Gordon)."

Last season, Loyola-Marymount goalkeeper Tracy Sharp won the Defensive Player of the Year award in the West Coast Conference despite Gordon leading the nation in goals against average per game.

By scoring four goals with only 10 players the Broncos reached their goal in a dominating 4-0 victory.