Sept. 21, 2002
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The 24th-ranked Santa Clara University men's soccer team held on for a 3-2 win over Cal State Fullerton in the championship match of the Santa Clara/adidas Classic Saturday night in front of 1,004 fans at Buck Shaw Stadium.
The Broncos (4-1-0) jumped out to an early 1-0 as Will Weatherly scored his third goal of the season on a beautiful crossing pass from Kelechi Igwe in the ninth minute of the contest. Igwe took the ball down the right sideline and sent the ball 40 yards across the field, over a Titan defender to where Weatherly was standing all by himself. Weather took the ball out of the air with his right foot and placed it perfectly into the lower right corner of the net.
Santa Clara added another goal in the 33rd minute when Kirk Fonseca gathered a lose ball in front of the net and slipped it under Kyle Polak for a 2-0 lead. But Cal State Fullerton (2-3-1) got on the board just five minutes later when Hector Oreallana deflected a ball off a Santa Clara defender into the upper right corner of the net to cut the Bronco lead down to 2-1.
The score remained the same until the 58:33 mark when Igwe blasted home his third goal of the season into the lower right corner of the goal from 30 yards out off a pass from Fonseca. Igwe took Fonseca's pass, turned and fired the shot from above the left hand portion of the penalty box circle, surprising Polak who couldn't catch up to the blast.
Santa Clara looked like it would breeze to the title after a red card was assessed to Adriano Lima in the 65th minute, putting the Titans a man down. CSUF rallied however, and drew within one goal when Brent Whitfield slotted a shot past Bronco netminder Steve Cronin from 12 yards out.
The Bronco defense tightened after allowing the second goal however, and did not allow another goal as Cronin posted one of his three saves in the final 10 minutes.
Santa Clara will return to action next Thursday in Buck Shaw stadium as Bay Area rival California and the Broncos will square off at 7:30 p.m.
