Oct. 9, 2005
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Prior to his team's departure for the weekend's trip to Southern California, Santa Clara men's soccer coach Cameron Rast commented on how difficult it is to win on the road in the West Coast Conference.
Sunday, the fifth-ranked Broncos experienced that prophetic statement first-hand Sunday afternoon as Santa Clara was unable to take advantage of a number of scoring opportunities in a 3-1 loss at Loyola Marymount in front of 397 fans at Sullivan Field.
"I thought we played pretty well in the first half but we just didn't close it out and they got a goal just before time expired," said Rast. "They were fortunate on a throw-in that dropped right in the box and capitalized on the opportunity to tie the game. In the second half, we couldn't quite get our legs underneath us, but even so I thought the result with still within reach. They got a second goal that was similar to the first one then added another on a long cross. I give LMU credit, they played well today.
"We are now midway through the regular season and we have the ability to be able to match our opponent, both at home and on the road. I think we just need to continue to mature a little and keep putting ourselves in positions to win games. We played well on Friday and we really didn't play that poorly today. We just didn't take advantage of our opportunities and our opponent did."
With the loss, Santa Clara dropped to 8-3 on the season and 2-1 in the WCC. The Broncos are just one-half game behind Saint Mary's, a team it defeated last weekend, for first place in the league table and split its Southern California road trip after defeating San Diego 2-0- on Friday night. SCU went 3-1 in SoCal this season, defeating UCLA, Fullerton and USD before dropping today's match at LMU. The Lions improved to 4-4-2 on the season and 2-2 in WCC matches.
Santa Clara returns to action Friday with a 7 p.m. match against the University of Portland at Buck Shaw Stadium. Tickets are available by calling the SCU Athletic Ticket Office at 408/554-4660 or by clicking here. Live Gametracker and All Access audio coverage will be available for the match. SCU will also play the Gonzaga Bulldogs Sunday in a 3 p.m. contest at The Shaw.
The Broncos outshot LMU by a 13-7 margin, but couldn't counter six of the Lions' shots finding the frame, compared to just five of Santa Clara's. LMU was awarded 11 corner kicks to Santa Clara's five and center official Kia Dehpanah whistled SCU for 19 fouls, compared to 10 for Loyola Marymount.
Senior Jeff Scott (Granite Bay, Calif.) scored SCU's only goal to give the Broncos an early 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute of the match. His unassisted goal, Scott's first of the season and the fourth of his career, was a blast from just outside the penalty area that went past LMU keeper Robert Flores.
The Bronco defensive unit, missing sophomore center back Jamil Roberts (Fremont, Calif.) due to an injury he suffered against Saint Mary's, nearly helped SCU take a lead into the halftime locker room until Junior Ybarra scored his second goal of the season from 10 yards out past starting keeper Kevin Sweeney (San Jose, Calif.) just 15 seconds from the whistle.
The Lions took the lead for good in the 57th minute when Jawaan Delaney scored his first goal of the season in the 57th minute. Assists were credited to Bobby Burling and Diego Souza as the ball was handled several times before Delaney was able to poke it into the net from right in front of goal.
Burling scored just five minutes later on a header from a cross by Souza from the right side of the field to provide LMU the final margin of victory.
Christopher Moreo (Las Vegas, Nev.) replaced Sweeney in the 72nd minute and made a beautiful save of an Armando Melendez free kick that was headed toward the upper right corner of the goal.
#5 Santa Clara Broncos (8-3-0, 2-1-0 WCC) vs Loyola Marymount (4-4-2, 2-2-0 WCC) October 09, 2005 at Sullivan Field (Los Angeles, Calif.) Attendance: 397 Weather: breezy, low 70s
Goals by period 1 2 Tot ------------------------------- Santa Clara Broncos. 1 0 - 1 Loyola Marymount.... 1 2 - 3
SCORING SUMMARY: 1. 22:13 SCU Scott, Jeff (unassisted) - shot from 20 yards out 2. 44:45 LMU YBARRA, Junior (2) (OGLETREE, Michael) - shot from 10 yards out 3. 56:31 LMU DELANEY, Jawaan (1) (BURLING, Bobby;SOUZA, Diego) - from in front of goal 4. 61:28 LMU BURLING, Bobby (5) (SOUZA, Diego;GOMEZ, Trini) - header from right cross
Shots: Santa Clara Broncos 13, Loyola Marymount 7 Saves: Santa Clara Broncos 3 (Moreo, Christopher 1; Sweeney, Kevin 1; TEAM 1), Loyola Marymount 4 (FLORES, Robert 4)
