Sept. 14, 2008
STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 11 Santa Clara women's soccer concluded play at the Stanford Invitational with a, 5-0, loss to No. 5 North Carolina. The Broncos created several different scoring opportunities, but could not connect the ball to the back of the net. Freshman Lindsey Wicher, who appeared in Friday's match against UNC Greensboro, made her first career start, and Meagan McCray started at keeper for her fifth start of the season.
The Tar Heels took an immediate 1-0 lead, when Nikki Washington half-volleyed the ball over goal keeper McCray, 54 seconds into the first half. Santa Clara's Katherine Reynolds attempted to respond to UNC's goal, but her cross to the far post went wide.
North Carolina got back on the board in the 7th minute when Yael Averuch scored off a rebound from a free kick that was deflected off the Santa Clara defense outside the box. The Broncos Anessa Patton and Margueritte Aozasa fired consecutive shots on UNC's goal, but were kept out of the back of the net. In the 25th minute McCray punched the ball to the far post when she dived to save the Broncos from falling, 3-0.
At forward, Lexi Orand had the best opportunity for Santa Clara to see the back of the net when her shot volleyed just under the crossbar, but the Heels keeper Ashlyn Harris was able to get a tip on it and fall in the center of the goal to keep the Broncos off the board. Minutes later Orand set up SCU with another shot opportunity when she crossed the ball, but Hayley Siegal could not straighten out her touch and the ball deflected wide.
With ten minutes left in the first half, Alyssa Chun was fouled just outside the box to set up a free kick for Santa Clara. Kiki Bosio, who consistently tried to create scoring opportunities for the Broncos throughout the game, took the shot towards the far post, but it went just wide. Persistent, Bosio set up another opportunity for SCU in the 44th minute with a cross to the near post to Kendra Perry, but Perry's shot was saved by UNC's keeper.
In the second half, Santa Clara continued to try to connect, but could not get many direct opportunities on goal. North Carolina got back on the board at 49 minute mark when Courtney Jones finished a rebound off of McCray. UNC's Washington scored her second goal of the game in the 66th minute when she broke past Santa Clara's backline to beat McCray in a one-on-one slotting her ball in the left corner.
Rounding out the Tar Heels scoring efforts was Rachel Wood whose ball to Casey Noguiera led to the fifth and final goal of the game. After beating McCray, Noguiera's shot went low into the near post.
"I think that North Carolina is a talented team and played very well against us today," head coach Jerry Smith said. "I thought that there were some good moments in today's game, but clearly we are disappointed with the number of goals that went in past us."
The Broncos return to action this weekend when they open up the newly renovated Buck Shaw Stadium and host the Santa Clara/adidas Classic. On Friday, Sept. 19 they host Cal Poly at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Sept. 21 they take on Yale at 1:30 p.m.