SANTA CLARA, Calif. – On a rainy Halloween night at Buck Shaw, Santa Clara women's soccer topped Gonzaga by a final of 3-0. The win puts the Broncos at 12-6-0 overall and 5-2-0 in WCC play while the Bulldogs are 8-8-1 and 3-3-1 in conference action.
Santa Clara returns to the field Sun., Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. vs. Portland. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
"The game went as we thought it would go," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "Gonzaga is a very hardworking and athletic team that puts a lot of pressure on you. We talked about weathering the storm at the beginning of the game, which we barely did. It's like playing a basketball team that full court presses you. You have to break the press and take care of the ball. You also have to be able to make your layups. One of our four keys for the game was to make our layups and Sofia made hers. Our girls did a good job of following the game plan and executing. Against that kind of team you're happy to get away with a one-goal margin of victory. To win by three and shut them out is a good performance. We'll see if we can take this into a very important game with a proud program in Portland."
Santa Clara outshot Gonzaga 12-11 and shots on goal were even at 7-7. Sofia Huerta led the way for the Bronco offense with two goals while Mariana Galvan had one goal and Kat McAuliffe picked up an assist. Andi Tostanoski picked up seven saves in net.
Tori Lee had the first good scoring chance of the match in the 20th minute. Lee got the ball in the box and hit a low shot to the far post but Tostanoski laid out to make the stop. The ball squirted away but she was able to recover.
Santa Clara answered right back with a goal in the 21st minute. Galvan received a pass in the middle of the field from McAuliffe and dibbled past several defenders before getting one-on-one with the goalkeeper. She took an extra touch to get past the keeper and finished the chance to make it 1-0.
Huerta scored her 13th goal of the season with just over a minute remaining in the first half to give Santa Clara a 2-0 lead. Huerta dribbled around some defenders and took a shot from the upper right side of the box that she finished in the left side of the net.
Santa Clara outshot Gonzaga 8-6 and shots on goal were 5-4 in favor of the Bulldogs in the first half. Huerta and Galvan led the way for the Bronco offense with a goal each while Tostanoski picked up five saves in net.
Huerta nearly had a beautiful goal in the 67th minute. She used some fancy footwork to get past her defender and ripped a shot with her left foot that nearly hooked in but it went off the post to keep the score 2-0 Broncos.
Huerta added her second of the game in the 74th minute to put the Broncos up three. She dribbled down the field and when she got into the top of the 18-yard box, fired a left-footed shot into the back of the net.
