SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Santa Clara women's soccer dropped its final game of the Notre Dame Invitational 4-1 Sunday morning to the host Irish.
Notre Dame (3-1-2) was in control of the game most of the way but Santa Clara (2-3-1) was able to take a lead on a penalty kick early in the second half. The Irish, however, came back with four unanswered goals, two by Meghan Doyle, and closed out the victory.
With the score tied at 1-all in the 68th minute, Doyle got behind the defense thanks to a nice pass from Eva Hurm. One-on-one with the keeper, Doyle placed her shot in the upper-left corner of the net to put Notre Dame on top.
Doyle and Natalie Jacobs both added insurance goals in the 84th and 90th minutes respectively put the game away.
Santa Clara scored its goal in the 51st minute after Julie Doyle was taken down in the box. Maria Sanchez took the penalty kick for the Broncos and hit her shot to the upper-right corner of the net to give them a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame didn't wait long to even the score at 1-all. In the 58th, Hurm centered a ball from the end line to Jennifer Westendorf who headed a shot from the middle of the box into the top-right of the net.
NOTES
- Melissa Lowder started in net and made six saves.
- Sanchez scored a goal in each game of the Notre Dame Invitational. They were her first goals as a Bronco.
- Santa Clara is now 6-14-2 all-time against Notre Dame.
QUOTABLE
"I'm disappointed in the score but very proud of the team's performance today. This was our best performance as a team in a lot of different areas all over the field. We held the ball much better than we have been and we created a number of good chances. We had a lot of different players, both starters and off the bench, step up in a tough game."
Head coach Jerry Smith
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Santa Clara plays at defending national champions No. 7 USC Friday at 3 p.m. Last year the Broncos beat the Trojans 3-2 in overtime at home.
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