SACRAMENTO, Calif. – After a scoreless opening period Sacramento State University was able to score twice in the second half – the decider coming with four minutes left - as the Hornets defeated Santa Clara University 2-1 in first round action of the 2010 NCAA College Cup tournament in Sacramento.
Chris Bettencourt scored the go-ahead goal for Sacramento State (11-4-7), the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament Champions, who will move on to play national No. 8 seed UCLA Sunday at 5 p.m. in Los Angeles.
An extremely physical match saw Santa Clara (10-6-5) receive an equalizing goal from junior forward Eric Masch in the 58th minute. The final moments following Bettencourt's goal were dominated by SCU in an attempt to send it into overtime.
Sacramento State was able to total 17 shots to Santa Clara's nine, but only four were on target. SCU keeper Kevin Klasila made a pair of saves, but Bettencourt was able to get in and behind the defense, drawing Klasila out of the net to set up the game-winner.
"They have some very talented individual players that broke us down, which accounted for their first goal," said Santa Clara head coach Cameron Rast. "Then we were absorbing too much pressure late in the second half. In the last 10 or 15 minutes we did not do a good enough job of countering that pressure."
The West Coast Conference Champion Broncos were making their 19 appearance in the NCAA tournament. Their WCC title this fall was their 11th and first since winning back-to-back league crowns in 2006-2007.