Posted: Oct 14, 2018
STOCKTON, Calif. – Santa Clara men's soccer came up on the short end of another overtime match, losing 3-2 to Pacific in double overtime in a West Coast Conference match on Saturday night.
Cooper Riley scored the game-winner in the 105th minute breaking the 2-2 dead lock since the 39th minute mark when Santa Clara's Javier Ruiz Duran scored his second goal of the evening to tie the match.
The Broncos had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the 59th minute on a penalty kick. The Tigers gave away the ball leading to a Broncos counter attack. When Ruiz Duran tried to play the ball into the box, a handball was called giving the Broncos a penalty kick opportunity. However, Emil Christensen's kick was saved by Pacific goalkeeper Mateo Gomez who dove to his right and got his hand on it.
"We earned ourselves another penalty and missed it. To be fair, the keeper made a good save but when you get those, you have to take advantage of them," said Broncos head coach Cam Rast. "We did a lot of good things to put ourselves to win but we didn't reward ourselves and that's disappointing."
Both Santa Clara (4-7-1, 0-2 WCC) and Pacific (7-3-2, 1-1 WCC) entered the match 0-1 in WCC play and looked to even its conference record to stay in the league race.
Santa Clara got the quick start it was looking for when Ruiz Duran scored in the sixth minute on an assist from Alex Achramowicz to take a 1-0 lead. However, the lead was short lived when Pacific's Anthony Orendain tied it up four minutes later.
The scoring continued in the first half when the Tigers took a 2-1 lead on Camden Riley's goal in the 28th minute. Riley found the back of the net off a rebound from his initial blocked shot. Ruiz Duran got the equalizer in the 39th minute on a long through ball from Julian Bravo on the left side and slotted it past the Tigers goalkeeper to the far post.
Besides the missed penalty kick, Santa Clara had another opportunity in the 83rd minute when a Bronco shot was cleared off the line by a Tigers defender, preserving the tie and sending it to overtime.
NEXT UP:
Santa Clara travels to Moraga, California to take on No. 6 Saint Mary's who are undefeated on the season on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT.
NOTES:
• The Broncos are now 15-5-4 all-time against Pacific.
• Santa Clara played its sixth overtime match of the season, going 1-4-1 in them.
• Ruiz Duran scored two goals in a game for the first time in his Bronco career.
