Oct. 21, 2007
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The No. 9 Santa Clara women's soccer team rallied back in the second half of Sunday's contest against West Coast Conference rival Loyola Marymount to post a 2-1 victory. Senior captain Brittany Klein scored the game-winning goal in the 75th minute to give the Broncos their 10th overall win of the season and their second league triumph. Santa Clara improved its overall record to 10-3-3 and its WCC record to 2-1-0 with the win, while LMU dropped to 9-5-1 on the season and 1-2-0 in WCC action.
"I'm very happy with the outcome of this week," said head coach Jerry Smith. "We had five tough games in eight days and did a great job in the tail end of this week. Today's game was eerily similar to Friday's game against Pepperdine. We allowed an early goal in the first half and then tied the game on a great individual effort. Friday it was Kiki Bosio, today it was by Tina Estrada. Then we scored the game-winning goal in an amazing way by an amazing player, Brittany Klein."
Klein's goal was a long-range chip over goalkeeper Joslyn Slovek's head. Since 2001, the Broncos have compiled a 6-0-1 record against the Lions and now own an all-time series record of 13-2-1.
Despite an early first half goal by LMU's Jamie Bell, the Broncos' offense did a tremendous job keeping the ball in the Lions' half for the majority of the game. In the first half, SCU attempted seven shots to LMU's two. Although Santa Clara applied intense pressure on Loyola Marymount, it wasn't until the 56th minute that SCU was able to get on the scoreboard.
Redshirt senior Estrada scored the equalizing goal for the Broncos. It was her 31st career goal and fifth of the season. The Fremont, Calif., native is now only one goal shy of tying former Broncos Kathleen Celio (1997-00) and Brandi Chastain (1989-90) for the No. 10 spot on the all-time goals list.
The Broncos return to action on Thursday, Oct. 25 against the Bulldogs of Gonzaga. Kick off is scheduled for 1 p.m., at Martin Field in Spokane, Wash. In the all-time series, Santa Clara has gone undefeated against Gonzaga with an impressive 13-0-1 record.