LOS ANGELES - No. 16 Santa Clara men's soccer scraped to a scoreless draw in double overtime against LMU in the regular season finale on Saturday night to finish West Coast Conference play undefeated for the fourth time in program history.
With the the conference championship locked up, the Santa Clara (11-1-4, 5-0-2) had one regular starter, Caden Buckley, in their starting lineup and was under siege by the LMU offense for much of the game.
LMU (12-4-2, 4-2-1) outshot the Broncos 42-3 and had a 22-1 advantage in corner kicks.
"This was a gutty performance," said Broncos head coach Cam Rast. "I thought for a fact that we battled all the way through overtime when it could have easily slipped away showed a lot of character, determination and how much they care. I loved it."
Bronco goalkeeper Jack Stoecker, a redshirt freshman who saw his first career action, acquitted himself well with 11 saves to keep Santa Clara in the game.
"Jack was amazing tonight playing his first game, coming against last year's WCC champs with so much offensive firepower," said Rast. "He didn't panic and that led to him making plays when he needed to. I was happy for him."
Santa Clara inserted some of the regular starters in spot duty throughout the game to keep them sharp and fit ahead of next week's NCAA Tournament match as collectively the team played well enough to keep the Lions off the scoreboard to cap off an undefeated league season.
NOTES:
• Santa Clara is now 25-16-10 all-time against LMU.
• The Broncos previously finished the WCC slate undefeated in 1989 (4-0-1), 1994 (5-0-1) and 2007 (10-0-2).
• Jack Stoecker, Tyrone Kirunda and Fynn Neubert got their first career starts. Sakari Carter also got his first start of the season.
• The Broncos are 1-0-4 in overtime matches this season.
• Santa Clara was held scoreless for just the second time all season. The first time was against then-No. 2 Georgetown (1-0, Sept. 6) in the only loss of the season.
HIGHLIGHTS:
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— Santa Clara Men's Soccer (@SCUBroncoSoccer) November 14, 2021
Save No. 5 for Stoecker pic.twitter.com/qJNEMnzvLg
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— Santa Clara Men's Soccer (@SCUBroncoSoccer) November 14, 2021
Save No. 10 for Jack Stoecker!! pic.twitter.com/Akw4uEvCWV
NEXT UP:
The Broncos will find out their first round opponent in the NCAA Tournament on Monday. The NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Selection Show will air on Monday, November 15 at 10 a.m. PT on NCAA.com. (link to the show will be on the front page of NCAA.com).
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