Santa Clara Ties No. 15 San Diego State 1-1 in Tight Game

Santa Clara Ties No. 15 San Diego State 1-1 in Tight Game

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - With welcome weekend in full-effect and many students back on campus, Santa Clara women's soccer tied No. 15 San Diego State 1-1 in another tight game for the Broncos that wrapped-up the Santa Clara Classic. Santa Clara is now 4-2-3 and San Diego State is 7-1-1.

Olivia Klei scored the only goal for Santa Clara and was assisted by Julie Johnston. The Broncos were able to outshoot San Diego State 21-11 with Sofia Huerta leading the way with seven. Goalkeeper Andi Tostanoski collected three saves.

Santa Clara returns to the field Fri., Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. vs. Cal State Northridge and Sun., Sept. 23 at 1 p.m. vs. Washington State.

"Whenever I see that we outshot an opponent 21-11, we're disappointed in a tie," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "Unfortunately for our team, our problem from last year of not scoring enough goals reared its ugly head today. One of our objectives is to score two or more goals each game and we're getting shots on goal but not finishing. We outplayed our opponent today and had a number of great opportunities so we should have scored two or three or more goals. That being said, San Diego State is a very tough team and I thought we showed good resolve coming back. At the end of the day, however, we're disappointed with a tie."

San Diego State scored first off a corner kick in the 34th minute. Megan Jurado crossed the ball into the box where Dani Weatherholt attempted to clear the ball but ended up scoring an own-goal to make the score 1-0 Aztecs. Carli Johnson of San Diego State was credited with the goal.

Despite multiple chances to score in the first half, including two shots just off the mark by Huerta, Santa Clara went into halftime down 1-0.

San Diego State nearly doubled its lead in the 58th minute but two great saves by Tostanoski kept the game at 1-0. One shot was fired straight at her that she deflected and another she punched just over the crossbar.

Alyssa Kleiner crossed a ball into the box in the 60th minute that went just past Brooke Rice and Lauren Matheson was unable to get enough on the ball to sneak it past the goalkeeper but an Aztec player was able to clear the ball from just in front of the goal line.

Santa Clara had another great chance to even the game in the 68th minute on some beautiful passing. Johnston sent a ball to Huerta who threaded the needle through the defense to Rice on the right side of the goal. Rice dribbled the ball a few times before firing a shot that hit the goalkeeper straight on but the Broncos were unable to get the rebound.

The Aztecs had a terrific scoring chance in the 80th minute when Haley Palmer had a breakaway, one-on-one with Tostanoski. Tostanoski charged out and was able to slide to take the ball off of the foot of Palmer to prevent the goal.

Santa Clara was finally able to break through in the 88th minute to even the score at 1-1. Johnston sent the ball to Klei in the box who fielded the ball after a bounce and volleyed a shot into the back of the net.

Weatherholt and Matheson both had chances to score with four minutes remaining in the first overtime. Weatherholt fired a shot outside the box and Matheson hooked a shot from the top-right of the box. Both shots were saved by goalkeeper Rachel Boaz and the overtime ended with the game still tied 1-1.

Matheson nearly ended the game with seven minutes left in the second overtime after Huerta passed her the ball outside the top of the box. Matheson wound up and fired a shot that nailed the crossbar to keep the score even.

Matheson sent a ball into the six yard box with three minutes left that Johnston got a head on but couldn't get enough strength behind the shot to get it past the goalkeeper.

The game ended in a 1-1 tie.

With Stanford winning the Classic title, the All-Classic team is below.

2012 Santa Clara All-Classic Team
Stephanie Partenheimer, UNC Greensboro
Katie Durst, UNC Greensboro
Tiffany Hurst, San Diego State
Carli Johnson, San Diego State
Julie Johnston, Santa Clara
Sofia Huerta, Santa Clara
Olivia Klei, Santa Clara
Courtney Verloo (Classic MVP), Stanford
Alina Garciamendez, Stanford
Aly Gleason, Stanford
Rachel Quon, Stanford