SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara men's soccer team (10-8-0, 7-3-0 WCC) dropped Friday night's match to LMU (12-4-2, 8-2-1 WCC). Though Santa Clara battled for the whole 90 minutes, the lone goal scored by Juan De Rada dashed the Broncos' chances at the WCC title.
"The task tonight was to make sure you don't make a mistake," said Bronco head coach Cameron Rast. "There was a moment we needed to make a play and didn't and in these games it'll cost you. It's a solid team that we played, but disappointing because we think we could have done better."
The Broncos defense yielded off 17 of the Lions' shots and goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh picked up eight great saves.
"Kendall was awesome tonight," continued Rast. "He made some big saves time and time again which is what he's capable of. Hats off to him for the progression he made this season and it was fun watching him come into his own."
The Broncos will return to Buck Shaw on Sun., Nov. 16 at 1 p.m. vs. USD (6-9-4, 2-6-3 WCC) to conclude WCC play. Before the match, the team will be honoring its six seniors; Mark Daus, Carlos Montes, Harrison Hanley, Keigo Kameya, David Torres and Phillip Muscarella.
"We'll play to win on Sunday because that's what we do," said Rast. "We'll come to play for the seniors because they deserve it and for hope that maybe we can make it to the tournament."
In the 10th min., LMU's De Rada gave the Broncos a scare with a breakaway run towards the Broncos' net. De Rada rocketed a shot on frame but it was blocked away by McIntosh.
In the 14th min., Santa Clara's Hanley crossed the ball in front of the Lions' net to the head of Kameya but the shot was hit wide.
McIntosh picked up another great save in the 33rd min. when LMU's Adrien Perez hit a low hard shot to far post that McIntosh kicked away.
Just after the half in the 48th min., LMU's Leon Prikhodovskiy hit a low near post shot that was grabbed up by McIntosh.
In the 61st min., Jared Hegardt made a dangerous run up the middle of the field to lay off a through ball to in front of the Lions' net but was scooped up by LMU's goalkeeper Paul Blanchette.
In the 70th min., LMU's Mark Dotseth crossed the ball in front of the Broncos' box for De Rada to tap in making the score 1-0 for the Lions.
In the 85th min., a ball served into the Lions' box bounced behind the defense for Michael Gates to get a header shot but was caught by Blanchette.
McIntosh made another spectacular save in the 87th min. making a one-handed diving save from a shot ten yards away.
The match concluded with a final score of 1-0 in favor of the Lions.
Game Notes: Attendance was 867.