SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's soccer won its first spring match of the season 4-1 over Cal on April 7. Dani Weatherholt, Aly Birgel, Sofia Huerta and Stephanie Sorg scored the four Bronco goals while Morgan Marlborough, Julie Vass, Alesha Blair and Brittany Ambrose all saw their first collegiate action.
"We scored four goals against a good team and we defended pretty well, but we didn't play well the rest of the game," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "We didn't keep possession and I would call this game a choppy attacking performance. We were bailed out by the four goals we scored. That being said, I'd much rather have this outcome than play well and not be able to score at all but we need to do better."
Santa Clara struck in the first minute to get out to an early lead. Marlborough, who has been chomping at the bit to get out on the field after sitting out 2012 due to NCAA transfer rules, wasted no time getting into the action. Marlborough sent a pass to Weatherholt who knocked one past the goalkeeper.
The second Bronco goal came off of a corner kick by Sarah Jackson. Jackson sent the ball into the box and Birgel was able to make solid contact for the second goal. One of Santa Clara's biggest areas of emphasis is improving on scoring off of dead balls and Smith was happy with his team's ability to execute.
Huerta, who led the WCC in shots in 2012, scored her first goal of the spring to make it 3-0 Broncos. Huerta hit a ball to the middle of the goal, but it was so low and hard that the goalkeeper couldn't handle the shot.
The final Santa Clara goal came off the left foot of Sorg. She was playing in the back when she came forward to take a left-footed shot from distance that found the back of the net.
The lone Cal goal was a penalty kick set up by a foul on a corner kick in the closing minutes of the game.