Santa Clara and Portland Battle to 2-2 Tie

Santa Clara and Portland Battle to 2-2 Tie

Check out photos of the game! (Credit Denis Concordel)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – On senior night and with WCC positioning on the line, No. 18 Santa Clara women's soccer tied Portland by the final of 2-2. The tie puts Santa Clara at 10-3-6 overall and 3-1-3 in WCC play while Portland moves to 10-4-4 and 4-1-2 in conference.

Santa Clara finishes up the regular season on Saturday at Saint Mary's at 12 p.m.

Julie Johnston and Dani Weatherholt scored the two Santa Clara goals while Oliva Klei and Sofia Huerta had the assists. The Broncos outshot Portland 22-14 and goalkeeper Andi Tostanoski collected three saves.

"I think two evenly matched teams is the way to look at this game," said Bronco head coach Jerry Smith. "Portland and Santa Clara are both legitimate top-25 teams and we played to a stalemate today. They've been a very good team all year. I think we probably controlled the game a little bit more and had a few more chances to win the game. Dangerous chances were very even but we might have had one or two more than them. Between the two programs there are 19 Final Fours and three National Championships so there is a great history between us and a lot of pride. Now our focus shifts to Saint Mary's and trying to win a tough game on the road like we'll have to do in the NCAA tournament."

Santa Clara scored first in the third minute to give the team an early 1-0 lead. Klei made a long run down the left side of the field and juked the defender to get close to the end line in the box before centering the ball on the ground to Weatherholt. Weatherholt was able to stick her foot out and roll the shot to the right side of the goal, just past the reach of Portland's goalkeeper Erin Dees.

Amanda Frisbee tied the game in the seventh minute on a long run down the field. She went past several Bronco defenders and got a few yards inside the top of the box before blasting a shot past Tostanoski to make the score 1-1.

The Broncos took a 2-1 lead into halftime on a goal in the 44th minute by Johnston. Huerta dribbled down the field and passed to Johnston near the top of the box. Johnston turned and took a step before rocketing a shot that found the back of the net.

Portland tied the game in the 82nd minute on the second goal of the night from Frisbee. Tostanoski came out to play a ball and it deflected off of her to Frisbee who sent a shot towards the empty net. Johnston was able to deflect it a bit but it wasn't enough and the ball went into the goal to make the score 2-2.

Portland hit the post less than a minute later but neither team was able to score again and the game went to overtime.

Both overtime periods saw chances for the Broncos and the Pilots but neither team could score and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.