Aug. 25, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Ranked fourth in the nation, the incoming class of freshmen for the Santa Clara University women;s soccer team wasted no time showing what they were capable of Friday night. Katherine Reynolds bagged the lone goal of the contest and Kiki Bosio recorded an assist in the second-ranked Broncos' 1-0 win over No. 23 Wake Forest at the Santa Clara adidas Classic from Buck Shaw Stadium.
"I think a lot of new players had an impact for us in the game tonight. Katherine certainly was the most dangerous player on the field, and Kiki was constantly the second-most dangerous player on the field, so both of those players had a tremendous impact," said head coach Jerry Smith. "But I also think that Chioma Igwe won a lot of balls for us in the midfield and Hillary Schwarzbach stepped in at right-back and did a nice job. So, we had a lot of new blood contributing to our team today, and that's always good to see early in the season."
The Broncos will return to action Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. against the Utah Utes, 2-1 victors over Stanford in Friday's opener.
Five of Santa Clara's starters were newcomers to the squad, and combined with three sophomores, made up a relatively fresh-faced group wearing the red and white.
Yet it didn't take long for these new Broncos to announce their presence in town, as Reynolds found the net early on Friday night, beating the Wake Forest defense to a through ball from Bosio and then besting Demon Deacon goalkeeper Kaitlyn Doe one-on-one in the ninth minute. Sophomore Hayley Siegel was also credited with an assist for starting the sequence.
"I was just very excited, and when I was dribbling all I was thinking was `I gotta score this, I gotta score!' and after I did I just figured, hey, good start!" Reynolds said about her game-winner. "It definitely gave me confidence for the rest of the game, and probably for the rest of the season."
From there both teams clamped down much the rest of the way, only taking 17 shots total. Santa Clara's Meagan McCray's first of three saves was a clutch one, stuffing a Kristen Kemp header from point-blank range in the first half to preserve the one-goal advantage. Defender Lauren Zealear also made a clutch save of her own in the 71st minute, hustling back to knock away an Amy Smerdzinski shot that got over the head of McCray, who had come out too far from goal.
Santa Clara also had a highlight-reel goal disallowed late in the second half, as Reynolds' picture-perfect cross met a soaring Brittany Klein in the middle of the box for the easy finish, but an offsides flag nullified the play.
Following Sunday's contest, the Broncos will head out to South Bend, Ind. to face off with Harvard followed by Notre Dame on Sept. 1 & 3, respectively.