Nov. 14, 2003
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Arizona State vs. Cal Poly Box Score
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara University freshman forward Marian Dalmy returned to the field after missing the last six matches to lead the Broncos to an NCAA First Round victory tonight at Buck Shaw Stadium, topping Bay Area rival Stanford 1-0.
Santa Clara improves to 13-3-5 and will face Arizona State (13-4-3) in the second round, to be held on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium. Stanford finishes its season with a 10-9-2 mark. The Sun Devils defeated Cal Poly 3-1 in the earlier match. The Mustangs end their season with an 18-2-2 record.
Dalmy, of Lakewood, Colo., suffered a high sprain to her left ankle against San Diego on Oct. 12, and missed the Broncos' last six matches. She started the second half for the Broncos tonight, and scored just 13 minutes into her return, slotting a low cross from teammate Veronica Zepeda past Cardinal keeper Nicole Barnhart. In fact, Dalmy's last goal before the injury was also against Stanford, on Oct. 3.
"Zepeda is just a special player individually, and I think when she gets the ball to her feet, and she's taking you one-on-one, she has the ability to beat anybody," Stanford head coach Paul Ratcliffe said. "She's very savvy with her decision making after she beats that initial defender, and then the team adjusts and she finds the open player. She did in the box against us to find the decisive goal."
"When you play with Veronica you have to expect those [set up passes]," Dalmy added. "You just have to be ready. Veronica did all the work. It was perfect on the ground. I just trapped it and found my corner."
The Broncos started the match quickly, and tallied five shots before Stanford found the opportunity for an attempt in the 25th minute. Santa Clara finished the night with a 10-5 shot advantage. Six of those were by freshman Tina Estrada, who had some narrow misses that oohed and aahed the crowd of 1,765.
The Cardinal was led by Allyson Marquand, who had two shots on goal. Barnhart finished with three saves, as did SCU keeper Julie Ryder, who notched her seventh shut out of the season, tying for eighth in the Bronco single-season listing.
In the earlier match, it only took a school-record 18 seconds to set the tone for Arizona State's 3-1 win over Cal Poly. ASU then scored two more times in the second half just 51 seconds apart to put the contest out of reach. The three goals scored against Cal Poly were the most the Mustangs had allowed all year, as they came into the match with the nation's best goals-against average.
Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith looked ahead to Sunday's match with the following comment: "Last year I was very impressed with Arizona State, and I think they're even better this year. But at the same time, our team is not intimidated by any of the opponents that we can play in the tournament. We always look forward to playing each one of these NCAA matches."
The Broncos, the 2001 National Champions and 2002 College Cup finalists, are the tournament's ninth overall seed and are making their 15th straight NCAA postseason appearance. The third round will be held November 21-23 and the quarterfinals will be played November 28-30. The 2003 Women's College Cup will be held December 5 and 7 and is hosted by North Carolina State University and the Capital Area Soccer League in Cary, N.C.