Six Broncos Named to Soccer Buzz All-West Region Teams

Six Broncos Named to <i>Soccer Buzz</i> All-West Region Teams

Dec. 21, 2005

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Following a postseason run which saw the Santa Clara women's soccer team make the NCAA quarterfinals for the 11th-straight season, six student-athletes earned postseason honors today as Soccer Buzz magazine announced it's All-Region teams.

Sophomore forward Jordan Angeli and junior defender Marian Dalmy were selected to the All-West Region second team, defender Micaela Esquivel and forward Tina Estrada were third-team honorees and freshmen Amanda Poach and Danielle Potts were named to the region's All-Freshman team. Dalmy and Angeli's selections were the second in a row for each.

Angeli and Estrada were the Broncos' leading scorers in 2005, as they scored 12 and 11 goals, respectively, to become the first Santa Clara duo to each score 10 or more goals since Kristi Candau and Leslie Osborne turned the trick in 2002.

Estrada's strong second half helped the Broncos in the postseason, as she scored three goals and recorded a pair of assists in Santa Clara's four tournament matches. Angeli, who made the switch from defender to forward at the beginning of the season, quickly became one of SCU's most dangerous threats especially after her two goals on Sept. 9 helped Santa Clara defeat defending national champion Notre Dame 2-1.

Dalmy and Esquivel were part of a stingy backline that posted 13 shutouts in 2005. As outside backs in the Santa Clara scheme, they deftly handled the job of attacking from the wings and falling back to lend defensive help when necessary. Dalmy and Esquivel's versatility on the pitch shows through the defense's 13 shutouts and in their offensive numbers, as each players netted a pair of goals while Esquivel had four assists and Dalmy two.

In their debut campaigns on the Mission Campus, Poach and Potts immediately established themselves as critical mainstays of the backline and midfield. Poach, a starter from Opening Day, patrolled the midfield and with her superior ball-handling skills was a major force in Santa Clara's ability to maintain possession and control the flow of the match. Offensively she assisted on two goals in 2005 and narrowly missed her first career goal on a few occasions in which her rocket shots hit the crossbar or went just high.

Potts, a defender out of Danville, saw time as a reserve in the first couple matches of the season, and when fellow freshman defender Courtney Lewis went down for the season with a torn ACL against UCLA, Potts earned the starting spot and remained there for the rest of the season. With Dalmy and Esquivel attacking on the wings, the onus of defending the Santa Clara penalty area fell to central defenders Potts and Lauren Zealear.

She performed admirably, contributing to the defense's 13 shutouts and successfully marking the opposition's best attackers match after match. With their strong performances in their rookie seasons, Poach and Potts showed that they will be major factors for the next three seasons at Buck Shaw Stadium.