Nov. 7, 2009
SPOKANE, Wash. - Powered by three first half goals, the No. 14 Santa Clara women's soccer team rolled to its 13th victory of the season in its final regular season game with a 6-1 win over Gonzaga. The last time the Broncos put up six-plus goals was in 2007 when Santa Clara defeated Notre Dame at home 7-1.
Junior Anessa Patton got things going in just the 13th minute, finishing off Kiki Bosio's helper to put the Broncos up 1-0.
At 29:10, head coach Jerry Smith inserted freshman Lauren Matheson into the game, and his move paid off as the Mission Viejo, Calif. native scored just 31 seconds later, volleying in fellow rookie Meleana Shim's cross from the left side.
Santa Clara made it 3-0 less than two minutes later when senior Katherine Reynolds charged up from the back and her cross deflected off a Bulldogs defender and into the net.
The Zags got on the board though with less than five minutes to play in the half when Emily Hutchins finished a through ball from Ashley Riley past charging sophomore goalkeeper Bianca Henninger.
Six of the Broncos' eight shots were on net in the half, with three going in and Amy Danielson making three saves. Santa Clara also had six corners in the half while the Bulldogs had none.
In the second half, Gonzaga changed goalies and put in Jessie Thalman who has seen almost equal time with Danielson, and the Broncos did not stop their assault on the goal.
Sophomore Jenny LaPonte found the back of the net with a header off Matheson's cross in the 53rd minute.
Junior Maxnie Goynes scored her fourth goal of the season in the 69th minute after taking a long pass from Shim and lofting it over the charging keeper into the corner of the net and Shim got a goal of her own in the 72nd minute when she finished Santa Clara's fourth penalty kick of the season, keeping the perfect conversion percentage.
Shim's goal proved to be the last in the Broncos offensive onslaught and with the victory Santa Clara completed its 27th winning season in program history. The Broncos went on to out shoot the Bulldogs 18-12, with 11 of the 18 shots going on goal, and Henninger made two saves.
Up next for Santa Clara will be the NCAA Selection Show, which will air on ESPNews at 5 p.m. PT on Monday, Nov. 9.
