Sept. 12, 2008
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Freshman forward Connor Mitchell scored his first collegiate goal Friday night as the Santa Clara men's soccer team battle through its first stalemate of the season against No. 4 at Buck Shaw Stadium. The Broncos are now 1-3-1 on the season, while the Golden Bears are 3-0-2.
"We played well enough tonight to get the win," said Santa Clara head coach Cameron Rast. "But it came down to the last 49 seconds and in moments like those you have to get behind the ball, knock it forward and challenge everything. We didn't do that."
Despite the loss, the Broncos received tremendous performances from sophomore preseason All-American Jalil Anibaba, Mitchell and Brian Brungger.
It wasn't until the 90th minute of the game that either team was able to score. Fighting through an ugly battle that saw the teams combine for 31 fouls (18 by Santa Clara and 13 by Cal), neither team really held an offensive advantage. Then with 44 seconds remaining in regulation, junior Jeff Cosgriff found Mitchell, who then battled past a Cal defender to send the ball into the upper left corner of the goal.
"It was pretty exciting," said Mitchell about the goal. "The ball got dropped back to Jeff and he just looked at me and I got ahead of their defender. He placed a beautiful ball for me."
However, the Broncos' lead was short-lived after freshman Mykell Bates was caught with a handball and the Golden Bears were rewarded a penalty kick. Tyler Barry took the shot for Cal and successfully sent it past SCU keeper Kevin Klasila to knot the game, 1-1.
Midway through the first overtime, Brungger attempted to give Santa Clara the win with a well placed cross to two potential Bronco kickers. But his shot was punched out of the way by goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
The Broncos return to action on Saturday, Sept. 20 against the Bruins of UCLA. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles.
