SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Santa Clara men's soccer fell to San Diego, 3-2, in the final game of the 2016 season. The Broncos led on two different occasions but ultimately lost in overtime.
"I give a lot of credit to the guys," head coach Cameron Rast said. "I thought they played well and I was pleased with our performance. There are just some things we need to work on in order to win games. That'll be a big test for us."
In Santa Clara's (5-10-1, 0-6-1 WCC) fourth overtime game of the year, San Diego scored the deciding goal at the 91:28 mark. Sophomore goalkeeper Dakota Havlick saved a Torero penalty and parried it out for a USD corner kick. On the ensuing corner kick, Michael Turner scored off an assist by Jared Hegardt to give the Toreros (6-10-3, 3-4 WCC) the victory.
The Broncos struck first thanks to junior Carlos Delgadillo at the 33:26. The junior scored his fourth goal of the season off a headed pass from senior Parker Holland to give SCU an early lead.
Just moments later the Toreros equalized when Djordje Babic fired home a shot from the top of the box with his left foot. Ryan Camara provided the assist from the right wing, finding Babic open in the middle of the field.
"Anytime you score to open the game it puts you in a good position," Rast said. "But we conceded a goal within the next two minutes and we know the next five minutes after scoring a goal is super important. We got another goal in the second half and I thought we played through it pretty well but we leaked another goal and because of that we went into OT."
Freshman Miles Robinson scored his first collegiate goal at the 53:39 mark to give SCU the lead. Senior Ryan Masch fired a shot off a set piece that the Torero goalkeeper parried right to Robinson. He took a one-time shot off the rebound with his left foot and drilled it into the net before the goalkeeper could recover.
San Diego tied it up again at the 64:40 mark. Michael Turner delivered a through ball to Miguel Berry at the top of the box and when sophomore goalkeeper Dakota Havlick came out to challenge, Berry flicked it by him and tapped the ball into the net.
"I want to give huge praise to the seniors tonight," Rast said. "They played hard and did a good job. i wanted them to send them off on a better note but we didn't get there tonight. That's on us, our challenge is to make ourselves better."
