Oct. 17, 2004
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The second-ranked Santa Clara men's soccer team suffered its second straight loss, falling to Loyola Marymount, 4-0 in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. With the defeat, the Broncos drop to 11-3-0 on the season and 4-2-0 in conference play.
The match was close throughout the first half, as Santa Clara posted the first true scoring opportunity of the contest. With 13 minutes remaining in the first half, it looked as if the Broncos would take the lead when Jason Pan put in a loose ball in front of the LMU net. However, an offsides call against Santa Clara would disallow the goal and leave the match scoreless.
Loyola Marymount's Armando Melendez would put the first score on the board to give the Lions a 1-0 lead at 42:25. He added a second goal just four minutes into the second half. After a hand ball was called in front of the Santa Clara net, Melendez converted the penalty kick to give the Lions a 2-0 lead.
Following the Lions' third goal at the 62:44 mark, freshman goalkeeper Christopher Moreo took over in the net for senior Kent Harkness. LMU would seal the victory with its fourth goal of the match with only 6:16 remaining in the contest, going on to the 4-0 win.
Harkness posted three saves on the day, while Moreo added his first collegiate save.
Offensively, Medhi Ballouchy led SCU with three of its six shots in the contest, including one shot on goal. Eric Irvine tallied two shots, both of which were on goal, while Erik Ustruck posted the Broncos final shot.
Santa Clara will take a break from competition this weekend before starting the second half of its WCC schedule on October 29th. SCU will be back in action that night at 7:00 p.m. at Negoesco Field on the campus of the University of San Francisco. The Broncos will return to Buck Shaw Stadium on Halloween night for a 7:00 p.m. meeting with Saint Mary's.
