Broncos Overwhelm Spartans 6-0 In Rivalry Series Battle

Broncos Overwhelm Spartans 6-0 In Rivalry Series Battle

Oct. 4, 2006

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Despite a light rain which fell for much of Wednesday night's Rivalry Series match, nothing deterred the relentless attack of the No. 3 Santa Clara women's soccer team as five different players scored in the 6-0 rout of San Jose State at Buck Shaw Stadium. Lexi Orand scored her first two collegiate goals, while Meagan Snell also netted her ninth of the season.

The third-ranked Broncos (10-2-0) will conclude their five-match homestand with Sunday's West Coast Conference opener at 1 p.m. against the San Diego Toreros. The Spartans fell to 3-8-1 with the loss.

Santa Clara had a multitude of opportunities Wednesday night, out-shooting the Spartans 33-4 and putting 15 shots on frame. Snell, Hillary Schwarzbach, Chioma Igwe, and Bonnie Bowman each scored a goal, while Orand added two more. Snell, Kiki Bosio, and Kendall Doherty each had a pair of assists, while Bowman and Orand each had an assist to go along with their goals. Julie Ryder made a pair of saves in her first start of the season, and fellow goalkeeper Lisa Lahman also made a save in her collegiate debut.

"It is always great to see someone score their first collegiate goal, in Lexi's case, and there's nothing that helps a goal-scorer's confidence more than scoring, so that will really help her going forward," head coach Jerry Smith said before expressing his joy for one of the team's fifth-year seniors. "And Bonnie, I was really happy to see her get on the board tonight, so I thought it was a good team effort and really felt good about how we played tonight."

After the Broncos just missed a few opportunities to open the scoring in the first part of the opening half, Schwarzbach finally got SCU on the board in the 31st minute, cashing in with a header off of a Bronco corner kick. Bosio played the corner short to Amanda Poach, who crossed it in front right to Schwarzbach, who deposited the ball in the back of the net for her second goal of the season.

Nine minutes later, Bosio received a pass from Snell on the far side and crossed a pass right into the middle of the box, where Igwe was waiting, and the junior transfer from Cal wasted no time netting her second goal of the season with a blast from ten yards out to give SCU the 2-0 lead heading into the break.

"It's exciting, and kind of a relief also getting the assists, it is nice to know that I can contribute to our goals in some way," Bosio said afterwards. "This is the first time that we've scored more than three goals, and its nice heading into conference because hopefully we can keep this up."

At the start of the second half, Smith brought in fresh legs against the Spartans, and the Broncos continued to dominate possession, taking 19 shots to San Jose State's two in the second half. Things got worse for the Spartans when midfielder Jennifer Guadagnolo was issued a red card after a reckless tackle in the 67th minute, leaving SJSU short-handed for the duration of the match.

The Bronco attack wasted no time capitalizing on the woman-advantage, scoring 12 seconds later as Doherty received the free kick and fed a cross into the box from the right side which was superbly redirected by Jordan Angeli to Orand, whose header from eight yards out was true for her first collegiate goal. Just under 12 minutes later, Orand was back on the scoresheet, chipping a ball past Spartan goalkeeper Marissa Dayton which rolled into the net for the 4-0 lead.

"It was definitely good, it felt really exciting to score," Orand said of scoring her first collegiate goals. "On the first one it was kind of like slow-motion for me, I saw Jordan getting there so I just tried to frame it, and on the second goal, I didn't really even think about it, I was just trying to get the ball past the keeper."

Snell, who was named the WCC Player of the Month for September earlier in the day, lived up to her scoring reputation three minutes later, taking a redirected ball from Orand and firing off a rocket past Dayton for SCU's fifth goal. Bowman capped off the scoring with just over a minute left in the match, sending a shot from the right side past Dayton and into the upper-left corner of the net.

"One of the things we're really trying to work on is creating dangerous chances, and I think we did a good job of doing that tonight," said Smith. In non-conference games there are several keys, one is to experiment with different player personnel, and the other thing is to make sure that you're not overplaying anyone in the match."