SAN FRANCISCO – An impressive offensive performance by Santa Clara men's soccer saw three first-half goals in a convincing 3-1 win over San Francisco on the road in a midweek West Coast Conference clash.

Oladayo Thomas, Bar Hazut and Eduardo Lopez Perez tallied a goal in the 18^th, 33^rd and 36^th minute to help Santa Clara (4-4-4, 1-1-2 WCC) pick up their first WCC victory of the season.

Thomas, the leading WCC goal scorer from a year ago who typically comes off the bench, was inserted into the starting lineup for just the second time this season and was paired up with Hazut, who made his first start, as the strikers.

"We typically like to bring (Ola)Dayo and Bar into the game once we settle down but today, we decided to change tactic," said Broncos head coach Cam Rast.  "We didn't press high early on and both of them are good at holding the ball so once we settled down we were able to make some good chances.  We were able to build out of the back and we took it to them as we were able to play around and through them.  The first half was really good soccer." 

The strategic move by Rast paid off as the duo scored the first two SCU goals.

For Thomas, it was his third goal of the season and the first goal as a Bronco for Hazut.  Lopez Perez would also score his first of the year.  

Trailing 3-0 at the intermission, San Francisco (7-4-3, 0-3-1 WCC) came out aggressively, as expected, to open the second half, outshooting the Broncos 10-3.  One of those shots found the back of the net in the 60^th minute by Max Hamelink to cut the Broncos lead to 3-1.

"The second half was tacticial as we didn't want to expose ourselves," said Rast. 

Santa Clara's defense held up the rest of the way with goalkeeper Felix Schaefer coming up with five of his seven saves in the final 45 minutes of action. 

The Broncos have a quick turnaround with a home match against LMU looming on Saturday.  

"We will celebrate this win for the whole bus ride back home," said Rast before the team shifts their focus to LMU.  "We want to finish the season strong on our terms.  If we play like we did tonight, we will get the results."  

NOTES

• Santa Clara is 29-37-10 all-time against San Francisco.
• It was the first Broncos win at San Francisco since the 2013 season.  
• Thomas is now tied atop the team lead in goals alongside Jesse Anamoo.  

HIGHLIGHTS

Just the start we were looking for!

SCU 1 - USF 0#StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/RFbIvupsKu

— Santa Clara Men's Soccer (@SCUBroncoSoccer) October 27, 2022

⚠️ Choppy video warning
First career goal by Bar Hazut puts the Broncos up 2-0!

SCU 2 - USF 0#StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/qLd9CSwQ65

— Santa Clara Men's Soccer (@SCUBroncoSoccer) October 27, 2022

LALO! @lalolopez408 extends the Broncos lead!!

SCU 3 - USF 0#StampedeTogether pic.twitter.com/nrxp0ozDO8

— Santa Clara Men's Soccer (@SCUBroncoSoccer) October 27, 2022

NEXT UP
The Broncos return home to host LMU on Saturday at 7 p.m.  

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