Oct. 15, 2006
Moraga, Calif. - Freshman Jeff Cosgriff scored less than a minute into overtime to hand the 17th-ranked Santa Clara University men's soccer team a 2-1 win over Saint Mary's College on Sunday. The Broncos bounced back from a 0-0 tie against Saint Mary's Friday night to defeat the Gaels and improve to 8-3-4 on the season, 4-1-2 in conference play. With the win, the Broncos moved to the top of the West Coast Conference standings with 14 points. Brian Martin scored his second goal of the year for Broncos in the first half. The Broncos are now unbeaten in their past five games.
On the game-winner, senior captain Erik Ustruck started the play by beating a defender on the wing before slipping a pass through to Jide Ogunbiyi. Ogunbiyi turned his man and got to the endline before putting a ball back across the face of the goal. Cosgriff ran onto the pass and one-timed the ball into the back of the net for the win. The goal was Cosgriff's fourth of the season.
Coming off a scoreless tie on Friday night at Buck Shaw Stadium, the Broncos got on the board first through Martin. The sophomore transfer from Furman got free and blasted a long-range shot that slipped through goalkeeper Brian Mason's hands and into the net. The goal came just 14 minutes into the match.
However, the Broncos could not maintain the lead as Matthew Fitzgerald struck back for the Gaels 15 minutes before halftime. SMC's Erik Roberts got free on the wing and sent a ball in for Fitzgerald who deposited it into the back of the net to knot the game at a goal apiece heading into the half.
In the waning moments of regulation, SCU appeared to have scored the game-winner as freshman midfielder Stephen McCarthy headed home a ball from inside the box. However, the referee ruled that McCarthy was in an offside position and disallowed the goal with under 10 seconds remaining.
After going scoreless in four previous overtime games this year, the Broncos wasted little time in the extra session as Cosgriff scored before the overtime was a minute old.
Santa Clara returns home next weekend for a crucial match with the University of San Francisco on Friday, Oct. 20 at Buck Shaw Stadium. The game between the top two teams in the conference kicks off at 7:00 p.m. PT. Tickets are available by calling (408) 554-4660 or by clicking here.
