PHOENIX – Pierce Dyal and Jesse Anamoo each tallied second half goals to lift Santa Clara men's soccer past Grand Canyon 2-0 on Friday night after a two hour delay to the start of the match due to lightning.
"Sometimes things go your way," said Broncos head coach Cam Rast about the delay. "The lightning is not something we normally deal with but to be honest, it was good for us. Grand Canyon had about five, six thousand fans in the stands but the rain and the lightning drove a lot of them away. We had big energy but it changed how we approached the game. It allowed us to relax, keep our emotion in check and with no fanfare to deal with.
"Grand Canyon is a quality side having won the Western Athletic Conference last two years and was in the NCAA tournament last season. We are happy with the result and with the quality of the performance as we look to get better from here."
Dyal broke a scoreless deadlock in the 66th minute when he slotted the ball to the lower left corner past the diving Lopes goalkeeper Leon Schmidt off a deflected pass from Tyrone Kirunda.
"On Pierce's goal, we were attacking the left side as it was something we seemed to be having success up that side," said Rast. "After the deflection, the ball sat up a little above the penalty spot and it would have been so easy to miss it running full speed at it but to Pierce's credit, he hit it clean past their goalkeeper. It was a class goal."
Three minutes later, Santa Clara (1-2-1) struck again, this time on a give-and-go between Dylan Penn and Jesse Anamoo. Penn slipped the through ball just outside the midfield circle to Anamoo who took care of the rest dribbling all the way before chipping the ball over Schmidt from eight yards out to give the Broncos an insurance goal.
"After our first goal, Grand Canyon was going to open up as they didn't have much success up to that point. They couldn't break us down so they pushed the numbers forward and were susceptible. We intercepted the ball and it was nicely played by Dylan and Jesse with the timing of the run and the finish," said Rast.
Santa Clara outshot Grand Canyon (2-3), 8-6 in the game. Half of the Broncos shots were on target. In the first half, both of Caden Buckley's and Eduardo Lopez Perez's shots were turned away by Schmidt.
Broncos goalkeeper Felix Schaefer had a pair of saves to record the shutout.
NOTES
- The goals by Dyal and Anamoo were their first as a Bronco. For the freshman Dyal, it was his first collegiate goal. Anamoo, a transfer from North Park University, tallied 12 goals in 2021.
- Schaefer picked up his first win as a Bronco.
- Santa Clara is 16-4-5 in the last 25 games dating back to the 2020 season.
HIGHLIGHTS
66' | That's Dial. Pierce Dyal with the goal to put the Broncos up front 1-0 on a deflected feed from Tyrone Kirunda!!!!!
— Santa Clara Men's Soccer (@SCUBroncoSoccer) September 10, 2022
SCU 1 - GCU 0#StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/meSz7Yp648
69' | Give-n-go between Dylan Penn and Jesse Anamoo nets the Broncos with its second goal!!
— Santa Clara Men's Soccer (@SCUBroncoSoccer) September 10, 2022
SCU 2 - GCU 0#StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/BC7U7YxhF8
NEXT UP
The Broncos remain on the road as they head up to St. George, Utah to take on Utah Tech on Monday at 6 p.m. PT.
Connect with the Broncos on Social Media
Athletics: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Men's Soccer: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
