Oct. 7, 2005
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Since 1996, the Santa Clara men's soccer program has advanced to three College Cups, six NCAA Tournaments and won three West Coast Conference titles. The one thing that has eluded the Broncos over the last eight years was a victory at the University of San Diego.
That all changed tonight.
Seniors Kelechi Igwe and Hector Guzman each scored to lead the fifth-ranked Broncos to a 2-0 shutout victory over the Toreros in front of 609 fans at Torero Stadium. With the win, Santa Clara improved to 8-2-0 on the season and 2-0-0 in WCC matches and has won a season-long four-straight. San Diego fell to 5-1-2 overall and 1-1-0 in league play.
Santa Clara returns to action Sunday with a 2 p.m. match at Loyola Marymount. Live coverage will be available via the Internet at www.SantaClaraBroncos.com.
"Considering that we haven't had a lot of success at USD the last few years, I'd say tonight was a pretty good performance for our team," said SCU's fourth-year head coach Cameron Rast, the winning active coach in the WCC in league matches. "To be able to go on the road in a tough environment in a match that has a great deal of meaning and come away with a positive result is important. Our guys continue to learn the impact of having strong performances on the road. San Diego is a good, solid team that plays with a lot of intensity so this a pretty important win for our team."
Senior keeper Kevin Sweeney improved his record to 3-0-0 in his three starts this season and registered his second shutout. The San Jose, Calif. native has only allowed two goals in nearly 400 minutes of action and has a 0.45 goals against average. He registered six saves in the match, a strong performance considering the fact that six of USD's 10 shots were on frame.
After a start to the match during which neither team maintained possession for long stretches, the Broncos were able to get on the scoreboard with Igwe's third goal of the season at the 21:32 mark in the match. The Belmont, Calif. native sped past the USD defense, accepted a through ball from midfielder Peter Lowry and slid it past Torero keeper Lance Friesz. It was only the fifth goal USD allowed in its eighth match of the season.
For the next 56 minutes, the two teams battled fairly even before the Broncos took advantage of a poor clearance by the Toreros to clinch the win. After SCU blocked a clearance by a USD defender, the ball landed at the feet of Guzman and his deposit into the back of the net from 10 yards out became his second goal of the season.
The Broncos outshot USD by a 12-10 margin overall and a 7-6 margin among those that were on goal. SCU held a slight 4-3 advantage in corner kicks and committed 23 fouls to USD's 16.
The Broncos return home Friday, Oct. 14 for a 7 p.m. match against Portland in Buck Shaw Stadium. Ticket information may be obtained by calling 408/554-4660 or by clicking here.
