SCU had more possession, although they didn't get a quality shot on frame. SCU MAC Herman candidate missed game due to minor injury in practice, and they had to juggle the lineup. Utah did a good job defending in the box. Utah did get a couple of breakaways in 2nd half, both saved by SCU keeper. Utah is a good team, and Isleib is very good in the middle. Utah smothered Cal Poly on Sunday, getting 21 shots after getting 9 against SCU. But they won't be able to play all of their tournament games in the Rockies.
How is Santa Clara feeling about their East Coast Road Trip this weekend? I'm glad the Hoyas have a quality OOC oponent before the BE this year.
I imagine the team feels about as good as it can going on the road to face two unbeaten opponents. The defense has been pretty solid and the offense has been diverse and consistently applied pressure in the 1st 3 games.
I've never seen the Broncos so am looking forward to attending the Georgetown match on the 6th (as an ND fan in DC I follow the Big East by going to Hoyas games). GK Desjardin and F Trujillo are two strong Georgetown players -HoyaHooligan probably knows others. Hopefully the Broncos will be in good form after facing Maryland on the 4th.
Well their fans aren't too happy about it. Men are also on the road and so are the women and men for for San Jose State and Stanford. Which means no soccer or a road trip for us too at either the Cal Tournament or the USF tournament. Cal Tournament looks like the better choice with Texas and Texas A&M playing Cal and St. Mary's. But the Friday games are at 2 and 4:30. "Boss I need to take the afternoon off to attend a soccer tournament." Sunday's games are at 9 in Orinda and 12 in Berkeley, so even more driving and paying for two games. Well I guess it's A&M we really want to see so Fri 4:30 and Sun 9am. The sacrifices we make for our sport! Wait a minute. 9am? On a Sunday? At a Catholic school? For a soccer game? Why do I feel like I'm about to be converted?
Does anyone think Poach will play this weekend in her homecoming? I've never seen SCU play in person and will be attending the Georgetown game...It would be a shame if she couldn't play in front of her hometown fans.
For those of you that detest "lametracker" the University of Maryland radio station is doing an audio feed from the SCU - Maryland game starting at 4:45 EDT. Here is the link. Go Broncos. http://www.wmucsports.com/
SCU PR Redshirt junior Amanda Poach (Bowie, Md.) and redshirt senior Hayley Siegel (Ellicott City, Md.) will get a chance to step on the field in front of friends and family this weekend as both games are near each player's hometowns. Siegel has started all three games at midfield this season and has registered one shot, while Poach, who has missed the last two seasons due to injury, is hoping to make a return to the field this weekend.
Great news and good luck to all. I know it's been a hard road for Poach these last couple of years so it will be nice to see her play again.
Congrats on the win. You hate to lose like that. Truly heart breaking loss. Both sides were evenly matched. Good luck the rest of the season.
That was a heckuva game against the Hoyas and it was great to see the Broncos on the Hilltop - come back any time. Santa Clara has a strong technical game and I was impressed that the team physically challenged Georgetown - that and the flip throw made the difference. Looking forward to the ND game next week.
Thanks for the kind words. Not sure why you hate to lose "like that". We've had a couple of one-goal losses this year, and they are frustrating, but having a few multi-goal losses the year before, I much prefer the one-goal variety. We played two good teams last weekend and were fortunate to come away with a win. This weekend Santa Clara is up against two top-ten teams in ND and Purdue. Melissa Henderson is going to be a load. But we need to come out at least .500 if we have larger aspirations for the year.
A good win tonight for the Broncos 2-0 over Notre Dame. First half was very even and kind of sloppy. Not much midfield play from either team. Very direct and unimaginative. SCU keeper made an incredible save in the first 5 minutes but then was never really tested again. SCU had some good attacks going but never seemed to get a great shot off until a free kick that Angeli rocketed into the back of the net by what looked to be a sleeping ND defense and GK. The Irish Gk in the first half was very shaky. Second half was dominated by the Broncos until the final 10 minutes when Notre Dame pushed everyone forward and the Broncos tried to counter (which they did but missed three great chances to score the third goal). SCU's midfield was much better in the second half, controlling the tempo and switching the field often. The team seemed to play best when four freshmen and two sophomores were on the field. Much better energy and fight in the team. Both keepers made nice saves in the second half (new Irish GK). SCU defense looks solid and the young strikers are coming around. Still a bit worried about a true ball-winner in the midfield and the lack of size caused the team some trouble against a big ND team. Nice progress from the first week of play.
SCU caught ND sleeping on their first goal. A quick restart after a foul had the ball played into space down the right half of the field to an onrushing JA. She may have taken a touch or two before letting fly with a rocket into the right upper 90. "Keeper never had a chance... Good to see JA back!!
Promising developments in the mid with the LM, AV and the prospect of Poach and Lewis during WCC. Broncos struggled early to get the ball on the ground and distribute effectively until the Irish faded. Purdue looked dangerous against the Cardinal.
The best win of the season and the most complete game. Gotta love the young players coming into their own. Vernon, Matheson, Webster and Klei look awesome together. Angeli is holding the defense together and Henninger is great in the net. This is a weekend to build on. Still not controlling the tempo as much as I'd like, but each game the team is getting better. Does anybody know if Laponte is hurt or why she didn't play the second half?
We sat right behind the Bronco bench, and it seemed that LaPonte had some sort of leg muscle issue (calf strain?) but nothing serious. I thought Dani Potts did a great job replacing her, and it's great to have that kind of depth. Another plus for the weekend is that there were no other serious injuries. Very good weekend for the Broncos all around, and it was encouraging that (in my opinion) they were a little flat on Sunday and still clearly outplayed a Top 10 team. BTW, Poach thinks she will get back on the field next weekend for some playing time. If she continues to improve and gets back to 100% (or even 90%!) she would be a terrific addition to what looks like a very talented group. It will be interesting to see how they handle the Wisconsin and Colorado games. In years past they have played flat after their own tournament and lost to teams at the Stanford tournament that they should have beaten. Let's hope there is no let down after such a great weekend. The rankings will also be interesting to see this week. Not so concerned where the Broncos end up, but there will be some shake up in the Top 10.
The back line configuration was one I hadn't seen before with Angeli and Reynolds in the middle, and LaPonte and Olivia Klei outside. Looked like one of the coach's experiments that he often does earlier in the season, but it doesn't reflect on Dani Potts at all. I'm guessing that he moved Reynolds to the middle for the Notre Dame game to bunker the defense a little (the outside defenders made almost no runs up on Friday, which is very unusual), and it worked so well that he stayed with it on Sunday. Potts is a great defender and she will be a factor in this team's success, no doubt.
Santa Clara climbs to #12 in NSCAA poll. http://www.nscaa.com/seniorRes.php?it=1085 Henninger makes Topdrawersoccer.com national team of the week. http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer/college-soccer-archives/nid-9777/Movers-and-Shakers
Definitely going to need some more pace on the field to handle the challenges of Stanford, Cal USD and Portland in the very near future. Cal and the Cardinal especially would like to penetrate straight down the middle if thr Broncos let up and they have enough speedy combinations on the field to get in and finish.