The No. 9 Santa Clara women's soccer team improved to 4-1-1 on the season this afternoon, relying on two second-half goals to defeat Pacific in the opening match of the Stanford/Nike Classic.
Sophomore Lauren Matheson had a goal and an assist in the match to power the Broncos to their second-straight win.
Santa Clara played the Tigers to a 0-0 tie at halftime and was outshot by Pacific 7-4, but came stampeding back in the second half with 10 shots.
Matheson connected with standout Julie Johnston for the game's first goal, just five minutes and 19 seconds into the second half. Matheson's corner kick from the left flank was served perfectly to Johnston, who headed the ball in on the near post side.
The Tigers' Kim Hargrave answered back about seven minutes later to spoil the shutout with a header goal of her own, this one coming from the far post side.
In the 77th minute, Matheson scored the go-ahead goal and eventual game winner, collecting her own rebound off the post and sticking it in the net.
The Broncos ended up outshooting Pacific 14 to 11 while each side had four tries from the corner flag. Junior goalkeeper Bianca Henninger finished with two saves while Tiger keeper Jill Medigovich had three.
Santa Clara returns to the pitch at Stanford on Sunday to take on No. 23 Georgia. The match, originally scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and changed to 11 a.m. has been set back to its original starting time of 11:30 a.m.
