SANTA CLARA - The No. 11 Santa Clara women's soccer team handed No. 15 Georgetown its first loss of the season tonight, defeating the Hoyas, 1-0, in front of 1,005 fans at Buck Shaw Stadium on the first night of the Santa Clara Classic.
Junior Jenny LaPonte connected with freshman Kelly Jenks just before halftime for the only goal the Broncos needed to win. LaPonte's flip throw bounced in the box and found its way to Jenks, who stuck it in the net for her first career goal. The assist was LaPonte's second of the season.
The Santa Clara defense did the rest, holding the NCAA's current top-scoring D-I team scoreless. Junior goalie Bianca Henninger picked up her third shutout of the season while making just two saves.
The Broncos finished the match with an 11-6 edge in shots. Jenks led the team with tries on net (2). Georgetown 'keeper Jackie DesJardin finished with three saves.
"I'm happy about the win," said head coach Jerry Smith. "Georgetown came in here 7-0 and had scored 31 goals and two against, so they are a for-real top-20 team. For us to get a shutout…I'm always very happy about that. We did what was necessary to get a shutout. I didn't think we created as many scoring chances today than I thought we were going to so I'm a little disappointed that we didn't have more opportunities to score goals and put more pressure on their goalkeeper. Overall it was a solid team effort against a very good top-20 team."
Santa Clara (5-2-1) will face Utah in the finale of the Santa Clara Classic on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The Utes fell to 1-8-0 on the season after losing to No. 2 Stanford, 6-1, in the first game of the tournament.
