SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Thanks to a stopped penalty kick in the first minute, Santa Clara men's soccer beat Cal Poly by a final of 1-0. The win puts the Broncos at 2-4-0 on the season while the Mustangs are 3-1-1.
Santa Clara returns to the field Fri., Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m. vs. UC Riverside.
"There were moments tonight where we weren't on our front foot, but there were moments where we were, and that's been the story of this season so far," said Santa Clara head coach Cameron Rast. "We talked about a tipping point in the season. That tipping point is having each player do two or three more things right in each half. We tipped the scales in our favor tonight by doing that against an undefeated team. This could be the start of something very big for us."
Santa Clara outshot Cal Poly 7-6 and shots on goal were 3-2 in favor of the Broncos. Alfred Edmonds led the Bronco offense with the goal. Kendall McIntosh picked up two saves in net.
In the first minute Santa Clara was called for a penalty in the box to give a PK to the Mustangs. McIntosh came up huge and stopped the low shot to the right post to keep the game scoreless.
"I told Kendall before the match, 'you're the best goalkeeper on the field' and he showed it, because their keeper is really good too," said Rast. "It wasn't a bad shot. Very few goalkeepers can make that save and he was the difference in the game tonight."
Santa Clara collected three shots and one on goal in the first half. McIntosh made one save.
The Broncos scored the first goal of the game in the 53rd minute off of a loose ball. Edmonds got the ball in the box after it bounced off a body. He fired a shot past the keeper and into the back of the net to make it 1-0.
