Sept. 7, 2003
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The 15th-ranked Santa Clara men's soccer team remained unbeaten in 2003 with its 3-1 upset victory over No. 9 SMU Sunday afternoon at the LMU Tournament in Los Angeles, Calif. The win moves the Broncos' record to 3-0-1 despite allowing their first goal of the year.
"This kind of victory something that we didn't get last year," said head coach Cameron Rast. "Today really showed the maturity and character of our guys in that we can play at a high level so early in the year. What is most exciting to me is the fact that even though we played well, I think that we can still play better."
SCU got a first half goal off All-American defender Ryan Cochrane's foot in the 36th minute that knotted the score at one apiece. The goal for the junior from Portland, Ore., was his first of the season and gave Kirk Fonseca his first assist of his senior year.
SMU got on the board first in the 23rd minute as Ramon Nunez slipped a ball past Bronco netminder Steve Cronin for his first goal of the season and the first goal allowed by Santa Clara in over 427 minutes of play, dating back to last season.
With the score still knotted at one in the 86th minute, senior captain Audren Cashman got off a shot on goal that made it past SMU keeper T.J. Tomasso for his first goal of the season, giving the Broncos' a 2-1 lead. Then, just four minutes later, junior Will Weatherly connected on his second goal of the year off the third assist of the season for Kelechi Igwe, securing the victory for SCU.
The Broncos dominated the stat sheet on the day, taking seven more shots and 10 more corner kicks while committing nine less fouls and three less offside violations. It also marked the second time this season the Broncos played against a team who went a man down due to a red card. Both times the Broncos have gone on to victory after the card was assessed, the first time coming against Fresno State last Monday.
The win on Sunday was a good follow up to a 0-0 draw that the Broncos secured against No. 7 Creighton just two days earlier in the first game of the LMU Tournament.
Santa Clara will return to next weekend for its first action in the Bay Area, playing two games as part of the USF/Diadora Classic. Friday's first game of the classic will be at 5 p.m. against Holy Cross at Negoesco Stadium on the USF campus. Sunday's game against Bay Area rival, California, will be played in Berkeley at 3:30 p.m.