LOS ANGELES – Santa Clara men's soccer moved into sole position of first place in the West Coast Conference standings with a 2-0 road win over LMU on Saturday night.  Adem Hamdaoua and Caden Buckley each tallied first half goals while goalkeeper Jack Stoecker made nine saves in a shutout effort. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Hamdaoua got the scoring going for Santa Clara (5-6-2, 3-0-0 WCC) with his patented long-range goal in the seventh minute.  The free kick specialist drilled one from approximately 25 yards out, beating goalkeeper Massimo Oedekoven Pomponi to the near post with a precision kick. 
• The Broncos doubled its lead in the 11th minute when Buckley finished off a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play.  On a through ball from past midfield, Martin Kwende Jr. outraced the LMU (6-2-5, 1-1-1 WCC) defense on the left side chasing down the ball to send a cross to Spencer Roberts who headed down a centering pass to Buckley.  The Bronco captain buried the shot to the lower right to give SCU a 2-0 lead. 
• Stoecker had a season-high nine saves to record his third clean sheet of the season.  

NOTABLE NUMBERS / GAME NOTES: 

• 9: The Broncos have nine points with a 3-0 record in league action.  The Broncos entered the game tied atop the league standings with San Diego who also had a 2-0-0 record but the Toreros lost to Portland this evening.
• 1: Spencer Roberts, who played at Loyola High in Los Angeles, recorded his first career Bronco point with his assist on Buckley's goal. 
• LMU had a 14-8 advantage in shots including 9-3 on shots on goal but Stoecker turned away every Lions shot.
• Ryan Kingsford and Jovan Prado each had a team-high three shots.  All three of Prado's shots were on frame.  Buckley led the Broncos with three shots.

HIGHLIGHTS:
POST-GAME COMMENTS:

Head Coach Cam Rast on the game:
"Our team came in ready for the fight and the quality we needed to play at.  LMU is a solid team and for us, it was another opportunity to test ourselves and see what we can do.  We came off right off the bat and were able to pick and choose our attack.  It was just a good performance and Stoecker was again fantastic.  I'm proud of our performance and growth and look forward to building this deep into the season." 

On the two goals:
"On Adem's free kick, we had a great vantage point as we were right in line with it.  It looked too far to shoot but their keeper overplayed the far post.  Adem did a great job turning the ball and getting it behind him.  As for Caden's goal, Martin made a great effort to track down the ball, clear it from the end line to send a great cross to the far post where Spencer knocked it back and Caden cleaned it up.  So that put us in a good place.  At that point, with a two goal lead, we didn't risk unnecessarily and the team played smartly the rest of the way."

NEXT UP:

• Santa Clara returns home for two games at Stevens Stadium next week, first taking on San Francisco on Wednesday and San Diego on Saturday.  Kickoff for both matches are at 7 p.m.

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