Check out photos from the match! (Credit Denis Concordel)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – In a crucial late season matchup of two perennial West Coast Conference powers, Santa Clara women's soccer beat Portland by a final of 1-0. The win puts the Broncos at 13-6-0 overall and 6-2-0 in WCC play while the Pilots are 6-9-3 and 3-4-1 in conference action.
Santa Clara returns to the field Sat., Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. vs. Saint Mary's on Senior Day.
"The Santa Clara and Portland series is full of close matches that goes back a long way," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "Portland is always a tough team to break down defensively and they were that today. They also created some good chances against us but our keeper made some big saves. In the end I think we were a little better today. I'm proud that the girls have followed our game plan in our last three games and we've gotten three big wins. Now we have one final game that will be a tough one against Saint Mary's. Hopefully we can play well and get a result that will put us in second place in our conference."
Santa Clara outshot Portland 21-9 and shots on goal were 7-6 in favor of the Broncos. Sofia Huerta led the way for the Bronco offense with a goal, 12 shots, and five shots on goal. Andi Tostanoski picked up six saves in net.
Mariana Galvan nearly put the Broncos on the board in the 25th minute. Huerta laid off a nice pass to Galvan who worked in the box but the goalkeeper came out got the ball just before Galvan could put it in.
Huerta nearly scored three minutes later but her shot from 25 yards out hit off the crossbar. The Broncos got a handball just outside the box off the rebound but the free kick was saved. The rebound went just out of reach of Megan Crosson and the game remained scoreless.
Portland had its best chance of the first half in the 30th minute. Inside the six a shot got deflected by the Santa Clara defense and went off the crossbar.
Galvan set up Huerta with a beautiful chip pass with 10 minutes remaining in the half but the shot from Huerta went wide.
Santa Clara outshot Portland 12-5 and shots on goal were 4-3 in favor of the Broncos in the first half. Huerta led the way for the Bronco offense with five shots and two on goal. Tostanoski picked up three saves in net.
Huerta had a one-on-one with the keeper in the 51st minute after Galvan played a perfect through ball. Huerta's shot was blocked by a streaking Pilots defender to keep the game tied.
Tostanoski made a nice save on a shot from Emily Sippel in the 58th minute to keep the game scoreless. A cross into the box and a few touches gave Sippel a shot that she tried to finish in the top of the goal but Tostanoski snagged the ball with her fingertips.
A defensive misplay by the Pilots defense led to the first goal of the game in the 85th minute. Off a free kick, Portland tried to send the ball across the field but kicked it right to Huerta. She used the opportunity to dribble down the field and find the back of the net and put the Broncos up 1-0.
