LOS ANGELES – Needing a win to stay in the race for the West Coast Conference title, Santa Clara women's soccer beat LMU 2-1 in overtime on Sunday afternoon. The Broncos fell behind in the second half but rallied to score two unanswered goals for the win.

Santa Clara (6-6-4, 3-2-1) held the upper hand on the offensive side of the ball, outshooting LMU (10-4-3, 5-2-0) 18-7 and putting 11 shots on goal to the Lions' five.  The Broncos especially commanded the second period, attempting 12 shots to just four from the Lions.

"This was a huge road win for us today," Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith said. "Road victories against teams with a high RPI really help us going forward. This win also helps us with positioning in our conference. It was a great comeback at the end of a really tough weekend. I thought we played hard in both matches and I was really happy to see that."

Both goalkeepers had big games with all three goals being perfectly placed and two coming on set pieces. LMU's Charlee Pruitt made nine saves to keep the game close and force the extra period. Melissa Lowder continued her strong play in net in her first season as a starter by collecting four saves, including a crucial diving stop in the 52nd minute.

"Both goalkeepers played really well today," Smith said. "We had a number of looks at their goal and she came up with some really big saves. Melissa was challenged right away and made a stop in the first few minutes. The goalkeepers made it difficult for both offenses today so I'm really proud that we were able to score that second goal. We hit seven of our eight game day goals which is an indication of how well we played."

The game-winner came off the head of Gudrun Arnardottir in the 97th minute. Brittany Ambrose took a corner and sent a perfect ball across the face of the goal and Arnardottir was able to get her head on it to knock the shot over the leaping Pruitt and into the back of the net.

The Broncos tied the scored on Jordan Jesolva's team-leading sixth of the season in the 72nd minute. Maddie Gonzalez sent a pass to Jesolva who rocketed her shot from just inside the box under the crossbar.

LMU scored the first goal of the game on a header off of a corner. Maddie Medved took the corner and Emily Carman was able to knock it to Sarina Bolden who finished the chance in the 59th minute to give the Lions the 1-0 lead.

Santa Clara is now unbeaten in its last 14 overtime matches, going 8-0-6. The game also extends the Broncos streak of allowing no more than two goals to 42 matches.

"The game also continued our unbeaten streak in overtime over the past two years," Smith said. "That really shows the character and resiliency of our girls. This was as close to a must-win game as you can have at this point in the season and I thought they responded well."

Santa Clara returns home for the final two home games of the regular season, beginning with Gonzaga Friday at 7 p.m. before hosting senior day Sunday at 1 p.m. vs. Portland.