No. 3 Santa Clara ties Cal Poly In Season Opener

Aug. 27, 2004

Box Score

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - The second-ranked Santa Clara University women's soccer team opened the 2004 season with a 2-2 tie with No. 22 Cal Poly tonight at Mustang Stadium. It marked the second straight double-overtime season opener for the Broncos, who battled UCLA to a 1-1 tie in 2003. Tonight's contest was also the season opener for Cal Poly, who drew a record crowd of 2,299 fans.

Sharon Day gave Cal Poly a 1-0 lead with an unassisted goal in the 25th minute. Santa Clara answered just two minutes later on a goal by senior forward Megan Kakadelas.

Cal Poly regained the lead early in the second half, as Katie Collins scored a goal off an assist from Heather Bryan. Again Santa Clara answered quickly, as senior midfielder Leslie Osborne scored in the 52nd minute off an assist from sophomore Tina Estrada.

Neither team could score in the final 38 minutes of regulation as well as two 10-minute overtime periods.

The tie was the third in the 14-game series between the two schools. Santa Clara has won all of the other 11 matches.

Day's goal was Cal Poly's first against the Broncos since the 2000 season. Santa Clara posted shutout victories each of the last three seasons and beat the Mustangs 3-1 in the opening round of the 2000 NCAA playoffs.

Santa Clara out-shot Cal Poly 27-17 and the Mustangs committed 25 fouls, 14 more than the visiting Broncos.

Mustang goalkeeper Liz Hill recorded 11 saves while senior Alyssa Sobolik had nine for the Broncos.

The attendance exceeded the single-game Cal Poly record of 2,116 set in the Mustang vs. UC Santa Barbara match on Nov. 3, 2000.

Santa Clara returns to action next weekend in South Bend, Ind., participating in Notre Dame's annual tournament. The Broncos will take on SMU on Friday, Sept. 3, at 3 p.m., and then play the host Fighting Irish Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m.