Sept. 20, 2008
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The No. 24 Santa Clara women's soccer team fell, 2-1, in overtime to Cal Poly in their home opener of the 2008 campaign. The Broncos, who played host to the Santa Clara/adidas Classic, played in the second game of the day's doubleheader.
The Mustangs earned their fourth win of the season on Ashley Vallis' golden goal in the 95th minute. Vallis scored on a fastbreak to the lower right corner of the goal. Prior to scoring the game-winning goal, Cal Poly was called offsides, but Vallis broke through the Broncos backline in an onsides position to score the game-ending goal. The Broncos defense thought because her teammate was called offsides the play was dead, but the referees let play continue.
"It was a confusing goal for a lot of people, as another player [for Cal Poly] was in an offsides position and the lines judge raised his flag so we stopped playing," said head coach Jerry Smith. "We should have not stopped playing because the player who scored was not in an offsides position and it was the correct call."
During the first half, Santa Clara pressed their way into the Mustangs territory, but could not get the ball to the back of the net. In the 25th minute Lexi Orand's shot looked like it was going to take SCU to a 1-0 lead, but rolled just outside the box. The Broncos continued to try to create opportunities to get on the board, but the half ended scoreless.
After a scoreless first half, Cal Poly immediately took charge and took a 1-0 lead two minutes into the second half off an Emily Hein shot on Santa Clara's goal keeper Bianca Henninger. Henninger started at goal for her third start in four games.
Freshman Jenny LaPonte scored the Broncos first goal of the night, to break a Santa Clara's two-game scoreless streak. Lindsey Johnson sent the ball to the center off the box and LaPonte was able to get a foot on it and shoot it past the Mustangs goal keeper Johanna Pfeiffer, into the upper left corner. The goal came after going 81 minutes without scoring in the game.
The Broncos conclude the Santa Clara/adidas Classic on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 1:30 p.m. when they take on Yale University. Yale dropped their match, 4-1, to Stanford in the first game of the Classic. Cal Poly will take on Stanford at 11 a.m. prior to the SCU game.