SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Stockton, Calif.) – After a weather delay causing a change in Santa Clara's conference schedule, the men's soccer team kept its focus and defeated Pacific, 4-1, on Sunday night. The Broncos improve to 6-6-3 and 2-1 in West Coast Conference play while the Tigers move to 2-12-0 overall and 0-3 in the WCC.
"With the schedule change and being away from home, our guys did a really good job of coming in and knowing what to do to get a good result tonight," said Santa Clara head coach Cameron Rast. "I thought we were excellent in the beginning and took control of the game early. We scored some very nice goals tonight."
With four more games remaining in conference play, Rast sees tonight as a momentum builder into the rest of the season. "We are up against good, tough opponents next weekend that will make for good match ups," said Rast. "Toinght, it was great to score multiple goals, put an opponent away and work through some of the kinks. This only continues to build some momentum going forward. We can go into the next games with necessary momentum, confidence."
The Broncos outshot the Tigers 19-6 over the 90-minute game. Santa Clara tallied 11 shots on goal while Pacific had four shots on frame. The Broncos' goals came in the 30th minute from Ryan Masch, the 48th minute from Matt Steurer, Max Ornstil in the 61st minute and the 86th minute by Carlos Delgadillo. Dylan Autran, Parker Holland, Glenn Vass, Steve Eneme and Martin Riedler also added to the Bronco attack tonight. Pacific scored its goal in the 49th minute by Julio Cervantes. Santa Clara goalkeeper Carl Carrwik collected three saves during the match.
"Steve Eneme great performance tonight," said Rast. "He was very good at holding the ball and creating dangerous moments. He really changed the game that helped dictate our success tonight."
Against Pacific, Santa Clara got off to a strong start in the 5th minute with a shot from Delgadillo from the top of the 18-yard box that sailed wide. Pacific responded three minutes later with a shot of their own that went wide.
The chances kept coming for the Broncos as they displayed strong organization and possession. Masch was able to put one away for his team in the 30th minute off of a give-and-go with teammate Delgadillo. Masch trapped a long ball from the defense and found Delgadillo making the run forward. Delgadillo, a freshman from San Jose, Calif., then played it back to Masch above the rest of the Tiger defense, who headed it in to the right side netting.
Then in the 38th minute, the Broncos put the ball in the back of the net again but were called offsides.
At halftime, the Broncos outshot the Tigers 9-2 with four shots on goal.
Santa Clara wasted no time at the start of the second half, putting a second point on the board in the 48th minute. After a diving save from the Tigers' goalkeeper, the Broncos took advantage of a long throw in taken by Brennan Castro that was flicked in by Steurer to tally his second goal of the season.
Just about a minute later, Pacific countered with a right-footed strike by Julio Cervantes that just went over the outstretched hands of Carrwik. The Tigers made the score 2-1 in the 48th minute.
The scoring did not stop there for Santa Clara. Staying composed in the final attacking third, Autran found Ornstil posting up in the middle of the 18-yard box. The junior turned on his defender and struck the ball to the lower left corner to the back of the net. This is Ornstil's third goal of the season. Broncos led on the road, 3-1.
Vass added to the offensive force with a shot from the middle of the 18-yard box, making Josh Adachi dive to save the ball in the 61st minute.
Closing out the night in Stockton, Autran made a quick run down the line and slotted the ball to Delgadillo, who was crashing the box and tapped in Autran's cross to make the score 4-1 in the 86th minute. The freshman leads the team with four goals in his debut season for Santa Clara.
Pacific had one last attempt in the 88th minute, but the Broncos did not let down. The defense proved its strength all night and Carrwik came away with a nice save from Kirk Kappelhoff's shot to end the match.
Santa Clara tallied its second win over a WCC opponent in the 2014 season on Sunday. Next up, the Broncos travel down to San Diego, Calif. to take on USD on Friday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. before heading back up to Buck Shaw to host senior day against Loyola Marymount on Sun., Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.
GAME NOTES: A total of 4 yellow card cautions were given … attendance was 387.
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