Oct. 5, 2008
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara women's soccer team lost a hard-fought game to Arizona, 2-0, Sunday afternoon at Buck Shaw Stadium. The match was the last non-conference outing for both programs.
The Broncos' (3-7-2) offensive efforts were led by junior Kiki Bosio, who had three shots on goal. Senior goalkeeper Meagan McCray collected five saves for SCU.
"We started out flat," said SCU head coach Jerry Smith. "Arizona passed the ball 11 or 12 times with no tackles from us. We're struggling physically and we're psychologically beat up. We had a really tough game on Friday and Arizona was well rested. Our focus is now on the WCC. We need to rest up and recover this week and have a good start in league play."
The Wildcats (7-4-0) made it a quick 1-0 game just seven seconds in with an angled shot to the right corner. Renae Cuellar made a dash down the right side taking a shot from the far side of the box. However, Santa Clara keeper McCray blocked the shot, reflecting it back into the nearside of the box and to the feet of Jasmine Namdar. Namdar chipped it in for goal No. 1 of the game.
Santa Clara then earned possession and sent the ball up the field to freshman Margueritte Aozasa who attempted the Broncos' first shot of the game. It was block by Arizona's keeper Chelsea Mcintyre. The ball bounced back to midfielder Courtney Lewis who, six seconds later, tried to even the match with her own shot up the middle. Yet, that attempt was blocked by a Wildcat defender.
Arizona almost made it a 2-0 game in the sixth minute of the contest as a Santa Clara handball was called and a penalty kick was awarded to the Wildcats. Cuellar took the shot for Arizona, but McCray was on point and made the save. The Wildcats would go on to out-shoot SCU, 9-4, in the first half.
It wasn't until the 88th minute that the Wildcats scored again. Leila Amini successfully completed a free kick to widened Arizona's lead to 2-0. Bosio, Lewis and Anessa Patton all tried to get Santa Clara on the scoreboard in the second half as the Broncos outshot the Wildcats, 6-4.
It was the Bronco's defense that really stepped up in the match, holding off the Wildcats for 87 minutes. With Aozasa and Dani Potts controlling the center back, head coach Smith was able to try a few different combinations on the outsides. Redshirt sophomore Lindsey Johnson really stepped up for the Broncos as did co-captain Katherine Reynolds and McCray.
"Lindsey is tough," said Smith. "She had a great performance tonight and I'm really happy with the way she played. Lindsey is from Arizona, so I think she wanted to play extra hard against them."
The Broncos return to action on Sunday, Oct. 12 in their West Coast Conference season opener against the Toreros of San Diego. Kick off is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium.
