Oct. 2, 2005
STANFORD, Calif. - Some players just have an innate ability to be in the right place at the right time, and forward Tina Estrada is no exception. The junior out of Fremont provided both goals in Santa Clara's 2-0 win over Oakland Sunday morning at Maloney Field.
The fifth-ranked Broncos (9-2-1) controlled the tempo throughout the match as they outshot the Golden Grizzlies (4-5-1) by a count of 18-3. Although the scoreboard showed only two goals for Santa Clara, they created many more opportunities and only a few notable saves by Oakland goalkeeper Jessica Howard kept the Broncos from making the match a rout.
"I think our team played very sensibly today, we controlled the game and created numerous opportunities," said head coach Jerry Smith. "I'm very happy for Tina, for her to get two goals I thought was terrific and we got good aggressive play from her."
The first goal of the contest came in the 30th minute as Estrada gathered in a pass from Meagan Snell and walked into the center of the box and blasted a shot past Howard into the lower-right corner. It was Estrada's third of the year and the ninth game-winner of her career. For Snell, it was her fourth assist of the season, and currently she is on a scoring run of two goals and three assists in the last five matches.
"I think Snelly's starting to gain some confidence, she's involved in so many of our goals even if it doesn't show up on the stat sheet, so she's doing a lot for us" Smith said. "It's nice to have three players on your front line in Meagan, Tina, and Jordan all contributing to goals."
The Broncos continued to press in the second half, controlling the ball and preventing Oakland from putting together any kind of plan. After some good chances and close-calls, Santa Clara finally got the insurance they were looking for as Estrada struck again off of a feed from Hayley Siegel in the 86th minute for her fourth of the season.
Julie Ryder was solid in goal once again as she collected her fourth shutout of the season. The Broncos back line made the day easier for Ryder as well, as Micaela Esquivel, Lauren Zealear, Marian Dalmy and Danielle Potts halted any kind of Golden Grizzlies attack.
"Oakland had a great counter-attacking game plan through [Kristi Swaving], and I thought our two center-backs, especially Lauren Zealear and Dani Potts, did a great job of eliminating her," Smith added about the Broncos' defensive play. "As many players as we throw forward, we put a lot of onus on those two players to hold the fort down for us defensively and I thought they did a great job today."
Oakland's lone opportunity was thwarted by a superb display of awareness by the Bronco defenders. The Golden Grizzlies managed to get off a shot that deflected past Ryder, but the Broncos cleared the loose ball before it crossed the goal line.
No. 5 Santa Clara returns home to Buck Shaw Stadium Friday night, October 7 as they host the Fresno State Bulldogs in their non-conference finale. The Broncos will then travel to San Diego to begin West Coast Conference play Sunday afternoon at noon against the Toreros.