Oct. 7, 2005
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - On a night which saw regular starters such as Julie Ryder, Meagan Snell and Brittany Klein get the night off, one full-timer still punched her time card and saw her hard work pay dividends. Jordan Angeli found the back of the net twice as Santa Clara concluded their non-conference slate with a 2-0 victory over Fresno State Friday night at Buck Shaw Stadium.
"Overall we're pretty happy with tonight, especially because we rested Brittany, Meagan and Julie, and I thought that the girls that came in did a real nice job for us as well as the substitutes that came into the game," said head coach Jerry Smith. "Once again Jordan found herself in the right place at the right time and scored a couple of goals."
While the fifth-ranked Broncos outshot the Bulldogs 6-3 in the first half, they were kept off of the scoreboard until the 37th minute, when freshman Hayley Siegel's through ball found Angeli and was blasted past Bulldog keeper Angie Larsen for the 1-0 lead.
Although the score stayed that way throughout the second half and the Broncos were not being seriously threatened up to that point, Fresno State almost created a golden scoring opportunity in the 81st minute but a fine defensive play by Tiffany Roberts snuffed it out. A slow rolling cross deflected into the box towards an unmarked Kortney Lewis, who had a clear look against Bronco keeper Meagan McCray, but Roberts hustled in and made a picture-perfect sliding tackle to stone Lewis' shot just as she made contact with the ball.
Seven minutes later Angeli again got loose in the box, as she received a pass from Bonnie Bowman and put the game away with her eighth goal of the season. The Broncos nearly got a third goal in the 90th minute but Catherine Sigler's bullet from about 15 yards out struck the left post and ricocheted away.
Santa Clara controlled much of the possession in the match and outshot the Bulldogs by a margin of 14-4, with eight of those shots coming on frame. Bowman and McCray made the most of their starting nods as Bowman recorded her first point of the year as she assisted on Angeli's goal, and McCray recorded not only her third win of the season but posted two saves in her first collegiate shutout.
"I think Meagan is starting to develop some confidence and settle down a little bit to the point where she can push Julie for some playing time," Smith added on McCray's performance. "Up to this point Julie's been our clear No. 1 [goalkeeper], but ultimately we'd like to have a great battle so that as we get to the playoffs we can have two great goalkeepers who can play for us, not just one, and I think Meagan is well on her way to becoming that second goalkeeper for us."
The Broncos now shift gears and head into the next phase of their 2005 season as they travel to San Diego to begin West Coast Conference play Sunday afternoon. Santa Clara will be looking to avenge the 2-1 loss to San Diego in last season's conference opener as they take to the pitch against the Toreros at noon.