Sept. 25, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After continuing her scoring tear to start the 2006 season by netting a pair of goals in fifth-ranked Santa Clara's dominating 3-0 win over No. 3 UCLA Friday night, forward Meagan Snell was named the West Coast Conference's Co-Player of the Week, sharing the honor with Loyola Marymount's Whitney Temple. For Snell, it marks the second time this season that she has been so honored.
"Anytime you can get one or more players to be able to do score goals for you on a consistent basis, they will have a tremendous impact on your results, and Meagan has scored some absolutely critical goals for our team," said head coach Jerry Smith. "The goals she has scored, especially against the level of competition we've faced so far this season, has her playing as well as any forward has for us over any stretch of my 20 years here at Santa Clara."
The junior from Arroyo Grande has already surpassed her five-goal output from 2005, scoring seven goals in her first nine matches for the Broncos this season. Earlier in the year, Snell became only the eighth player in Santa Clara history to score a goal in four consecutive matches, and at the moment she is currently in a stretch in which she has netted seven goals in the last eight matches.
Friday night, in a highly-anticipated match between two top-five squads, Snell opened up the scoring against the Bruins by banging home Hillary Schwarzbach's rebound that went off the crossbar after a Bronco corner kick. After Santa Clara went up 2-0 at halftime, Snell set the tone for the latter 45 minutes with her second goal of the night, charging the net on a loose ball and tapping it in to slam the door on any UCLA comeback hopes.
Snell and the Broncos will be back in action this Saturday night as they continue their five-match homestand by hosting the Stanford Cardinal at 7 p.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium. Tickets are available by calling (408) 554-4660 or by clicking here.