Sept. 30, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Precision and good, old-fashioned hustle lifted the No. 3 Santa Clara Broncos to a 2-0 victory over the No. 18 Stanford Cardinal Saturday night at Buck Shaw Stadium. Amanda Poach netted her first collegiate goal and Meagan Snell continued her stellar season by scoring her eighth goal of the season, while the SCU defense stood firm once again to post its fourth consecutive shutout.
The Broncos (9-2-0) will conclude their five-match homestand with two contests next week at Buck Shaw Stadium. Santa Clara will host the San Jose State Spartans in a midweek Rivalry Series battle Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m., and then will battle the San Diego Toreros Sunday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. in the West Coast Conference opener. Tickets are available by calling (408) 554-4660 or by clicking here.
Although outshot 15-2 by the Cardinal, the Broncos made both of theirs count, while goalkeeper Meagan McCray made eight saves, including four from point-blank range, to preserve her sixth shutout of the season. Kiki Bosio also assisted on both Bronco goals.
I thought we did take our chances well and did make the most of them," said head coach Jerry Smith. "Our defense is set up for letting teams take long shots on us, and if you're going to take long shots at our goal, it is going to take a heck of a shot to beat our keeper. When Stanford did have some good chances, Meagan came up with some good saves or they hit the ball right at her."
Saturday night's battle between the two Bay Area rivals began in similar fashion to many of the past Santa Clara-Stanford matches, with defenses taking center stage and scoring opportunities hard to come by. It wasn't until the 35th minute that the first real scoring chance presented itself, and the Broncos wasted no time capitalizing.
Bosio's grit and determination made the first goal of the match possible, as she battled a pair of Cardinal defenders and managed to slide a pass into the center of the field that Poach one-timed from 25 yards out and into the top half of the goal off the hands of Stanford keeper Alex Gamble.
"Amanda's got this wicked shot that you never know where it is going to go," Smith said of the sophomore midfielder. "Amanda scored about two or three minutes after I switched her and Brittany Klein, and she hit that rocket shot and it must have knuckled and moved a couple of times. It was a great goal and great for the team."
"Kiki did all the hard work, she managed to play a great ball to me, and I didn't see anyone in front of me so I took a touch and shot it and it just went in," Poach said about her first career goal as a Bronco.
Carrying the 1-0 lead into the second half, Santa Clara attacked from the outset and closed the walls in on the Cardinal. Another Bosio pass found Jordan Angeli, who found a streaking Snell, who beat Gamble one-on-one for the second SCU goal.
"It was important, because we just needed to keep going down their throats," Snell said about the effect her goal had on the match. "In the end it became dangerous, because 2-0 is a dangerous lead to have, but it was good."
From there, the defense took over, weathering Cardinal attacks as Stanford outshot the Broncos 12-1 in the second half, but the team kept the Cardinal off the board for its fourth shutout in a row, and eighth on the season.