Posted: Aug 31, 2018
NORFOLK, Va. – Santa Clara men's soccer struggled to find its groove both offensively and defensively in falling to nationally-ranked Old Dominion, 3-0, on Friday night in a match that started an hour late due to lightning in the area.
"Old Dominion is a good team. They are very solid and mature with a lot of upperclassmen," said Broncos head coach Cam Rast. "From the opening moments, we just couldn't find the quality of play we needed to where we couldn't get a hold of the ball and get it behind them. We looked out of sorts with it. Even with that, we tried to mix it up and build the attack but could not find the groove tonight."
The Broncos (1-2) did not put a shot on frame the entire match and defensively conceded a goal in the first half and a pair in the second half in dropping the road opener against No. 25 Monarchs.
In the 32nd minute, ODU (2-0-1) scored on a goal by Max Wilschrey who found the open net after Bronco goalkeeper Dakota Havlick came off his line to attempt to cut down the angle on Niko Klosterhalfen's ball but Klosterhalfen slipped it back to Wilschrey inside the six yard box and beat the Bronco defender.
"With the first goal, I didn't think we were in a bad position where two players could have made plays," said Rast.
The Broncos trailed 1-0 heading to the half getting outshot 8-4.
In the second half, Santa Clara started Alan Camacho Soto up front and Julian Bravo at midfield in hopes of generating some offense.
"In the first half, Old Dominion didn't have a lot of chances but neither did we. We knew we needed to have more of an attack. Julian is good in the air and a nice left foot so we wanted to see if he could transition from the top of box and have him go for shots," said Rast.
Bravo, along with Andres Jimenez and Eduardo Lopez Perez led the team with two shots apiece.
ODU added to its lead in the 60th minute on a well executed set piece when Tom Wustenberg, who was off to the side of the Bronco wall inside the 18, peeled off to find himself open to receive the free kick from Sebastien Hauret and volleyed it home to the back of the net.
"We should have defended that second goal better as we literally fell asleep but the ODU player took it with a heck of a quality," said Rast.
Wilschrey scored the final goal, his second in the game, in the 85th minute to put the finishing touches on the Monarchs 3-0 win.
"It was just disappointing that we didn't do a better job overall. We were not on our game tonight," said Rast.
NEXT UP:
The Broncos stay in-state and play at VCU on Sunday at 4 p.m. PT.
NOTES:
• Nate Shue got the starting nod for the first time this season.
• Freshman Eduardo Lopez Perez made his Bronco debut, coming in the 56th minute.
• Havlick recorded a season-high four saves.
