April 18, 2010

The Cal State Northridge Matadors defeated the Santa Clara Broncos 11-7 on Senior Day at the Sullivan Aquatic Center. Taylor Harkins led the Broncos with two goals in the regular season finale.

Cal State Northridge jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after Chelsea Curran scored two goals in a little over a minute and Whitney Delgado scored on a 5-meter penalty shot with 6:04 remaining in the first quarter.

But the Broncos did not give up as Harkins put Santa Clara on the scoreboard at 5:52, and they cut the lead to 3-1. The Matadors added another goal late in the first quarter to take a 4-1 lead at the end of one.

The Broncos opened the second quarter with a goal from Whitney Allen who scored on a 6 on 5 power play, and the Matador's lead was now 4-2. However, for much of the rest of the second quarter both offenses were not able to capitalize. Santa Clara goalie Wren White came up with huge blocks for the Broncos to keep them in the game, and Cal State Northridge's defense clamped down on the Bronco's offense.

The Matadors broke the scoring drought with another goal from Curran who put Northridge up by three, but the Broncos converted on their next possession with another goal by Harkins and the lead was now down to two. The score at the half was 5-3.

After the half Kirra Kylander opened the scoring up for the Matadors and pushed the lead to 6-3.

Northridge added another goal to make it 7-3 but Sarah Safir's goal with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter kept the Broncos in the game.

The Matadors opened up the fourth quarter with two unanswered goals and they started to pull away from the Broncos as they had a 9-4 advantage.

The Broncos converted a strong 6 on 5 after Marina Allen found Meg Zimmerman on the two-post for a goal with 5:25 left in the game. Later in the quarter Marina Allen drew a 5-meter and Jenny Knutson converted the penalty shot for the Broncos to cut the score to 10-6.

The Broncos finished the regular season 15-14, and will open up the post season at the WWPA Championships on April 30th in Bakersfield, Calif.