Oct. 28, 2005
MORAGA, Calif. - It was another one just like the other ones.
For the eighth time in the last 11 meetings in Moraga, the Santa Clara versus Saint Mary's men's soccer game was decided by a single goal. The fourth-ranked Broncos came away the victory today when senior Jeff Scott blasted a highlight reel shot past keeper Brian Mason from 35-yards away for the match's only goal in a 1-0 win at Saint Mary's Stadium.
With the win, Santa Clara moved to 6-1-1 in the West Coast Conference and 12-3-1 overall. The WCC-leading Broncos have a two-game edge over the Gaels in the league standings with four games remaining on the regular-season schedule. Saint Mary's fell to 7-7-1 on the season and 4-4-0 on the WCC.
Santa Clara returns to action Friday with a 7 p.m. match against San Diego. The Broncos complete their home schedule with a Sunday, Nov. 6 match against Loyola Marymount. Tickets to SCU soccer events are available by calling 408/554.4660 or by clicking here.
"We were fortunate to come away with a result today," said SCU head coach Cameron Rast. "Saint Mary's was able to get behind our defenders a couple of times, but I thought we responded well to prevent them from getting a goal. Jeff's shot was awesome and, obviously, timely. We would have had a number of decisions to make going into the final 10 minutes of the match with the score tied without a goal.
"We now have a couple of days off before our final two weekends of the league season."
The two teams were both credited with 13 shots apiece in the match, while SCU keeper Kevin Sweeney, the WCC Player of the Week, matched his career high with seven saves. Five of Santa Clara's shots were on frame, led by Kelechi Igwe and Peter Lowry with two apiece.
Scott's goal came at the 76:21 mark in the match. Santa Clara pressed forward and a crossing pass from Matt Hatzke into the penalty area was knocked out by the Saint Mary's defense. The ball came to the Granite Bay, Calif. forward's feet well outside the penalty area and he blasted it into the upper right corner of the goal.
The Broncos had a chance just minutes later when Eric Irvine just missed a one-time shot that went over the crossbar with less than 10 minutes remaining on the clock.
