Sept. 16, 2005
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The highly-anticipated match-up between No. 3 Santa Clara and No. 6 UCLA lived up to the hype as the Bruins claimed a 2-1 overtime victory over the Broncos in front of 2,040 fans at Buck Shaw Stadium on Friday night.
The momentum of the game was shifted right away towards UCLA as Danesha Adams netted the game's first goal only 25 seconds into the match to give the Bruins an early 1-0 lead.
"I don't think it changed anything tactically for us, but I think psychologically we stayed on our heels the rest of the first half," said head coach Jerry Smith. "We talked about not resting on the Notre Dame win, about continuing to work hard and get ready and play like an underdog. I thought we had a good week of practice but we did not come out playing like the underdog like we needed to."
The match stayed at 1-0 for the next 86 minutes, as UCLA continued pressuring until later into the second half when Santa Clara began to push the action and threaten the Bruin lead. It appeared that the Broncos had tied the match up in the second half but an offsides call from the official nullified the goal.
Still, Santa Clara continued to attack the Bruin back line and the hard work finally paid off when they finally broke through and equalized in the 86th minute. Following a UCLA foul just outside the box, Tina Estrada's free kick off of the set piece was saved by Bruin keeper Valerie Henderson, who then blocked Jordan Angeli's close-range shot before Hayley Siegel rose above the scrum in front to head it home to knot the score at 1-1.
For the final four minutes of regulation and the first six minutes of overtime the pace remained frenetic as both teams alternately attacked and fell back. But in the 97th minute Adams scored her second goal of the night from the right of the goal, about eight yards out to give the Bruins the win.
"In the second half I was very proud of the team, they really stepped it up and deserved to equalize the game and maybe even score another goal in the second half," Smith added. "But credit to UCLA, they played in the national championship game last year, and they scored a great goal in overtime."
The Broncos will return to action Sunday afternoon as they travel to Berkeley to take on the California Golden Bears at 1 p.m. That match will kick off a special doubleheader which also features the Santa Clara men's soccer team taking on California following the women's match.