Oct. 3, 2003
STANFORD, Calif. - Two freshmen from the nation's No. 1 recruiting class led the15th-ranked Santa Clara University women's soccer team to a 2-0 victory over 18th-ranked Stanford as part of the Stanford Nike Invitational, hosted by the Cardinal at New Maloney Field.
Santa Clara improves to 5-3-3 on the season while Stanford falls to 5-4-1. The rivalry against the Cardinal dates back to 1980, with SCU expanding its advantage to 15-9-5.
Santa Clara scored first, taking a lead in the 18th minute. Junior forward Bree Horvath was taken to the ground just outside of the box, setting up an indirect free kick. Freshman forward Tina Estrada set up the shot, with fellow freshman Marian Dalmy's attempt good to the upper right corner.
The Broncos' extended their lead six minutes later, when freshman Lauren Zealear took a sliding shot past Cardinal keeper Nicole Barnhart for a 2-0 lead. Junior forward Megan Kakadelas was credited with an assist.
Santa Clara took two more shots on the period, and held the Cardinal to two total attempts in the frame.
In second half action, senior forward Veronica Zepeda had two strong opportunities, but posted both wide. The Broncos finished with a 8-7 shot advantage despite two strong attempts from the Cardinal in the final two minutes.
Freshman goalkeeper Julie Ryder earned her second straight shut out, and third of the season, while posting four saves.
"We had a couple of really good weeks of training and our schedule up to this point was filled with a lot of ranked teams, and those teams did a good job of exposing our weaknesses," SCU head coach Jerry Smith said. "We've been working on those weaknesses and feel like we've patched things up. We're a little bit better team than we were earlier in the season."
Santa Clara remains at the Nike Invitational through Sunday, taking on TCU at 11 a.m. It will mark the first match against the Horned Frogs in program history. TCU's record is 5-5-1 after losing to Loyola Marymount 3-0 in the first match of the tournament.
