SAN DIEGO – Santa Clara men's soccer kept knocking on the door with nine second half shots before finally breaking through with two minutes remaining in the match when Florian Deletioglu found the back of the net to lift the Broncos (1-0) to a 1-0 win over UC San Diego (0-1) in the season opener on Thursday night at Triton Soccer Stadium.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Deletioglu, a transfer from Fordham making his Santa Clara debut, scored the game winner in the 88th minute on one touch passes from Pierce Dyal and Will Wiersdorf to break a scoreless deadlock.
- The Broncos out shot the Tritons 10-0 in the second half with UCSD goalkeeper Nolan Premack making three saves.
- SCU played the final nine minutes of the match with a one player advantage. In the 81st minute, Adam Hillis drew a straight red card with a tackle from behind to deny an obvious goal scoring opportunity by Jack Civitts just outside the box.
- Bronco goalkeeper Jack Stoecker had a big save in the first half when he stopped a close range shot by Cole Barrett before intermission to keep it a scoreless game. Stoecker finished the game with two saves.
- Deletioglu and Wiersdorf each had a game-high three shots apiece while Barrett and Max Carvalho had two shots each for the Tritons.
NOTABLE NUMBERS / GAME NOTES:
- Broncos head coach Cam Rast who is in his 23rd season at the helm improved his record in season openers to 12-10-1.
- Along with Deletioglu, newcomer Alvaro Gironda made their Bronco debuts as part of the starting XI. Jaiden Windell, Tyler Tipton and Baronyi Kengeye also made their Bronco debuts coming off the bench.
- 6: It was the sixth career shutout for Stoecker.
- 14: The Broncos utilized 14 players in the match with the aforementioned newcomers Windell, Tipson and Kengeye the only players seeing action from the bench.
- 9: Nine of the Broncos starting XI played all 90 minutes.
- Santa Clara now leads the series 2-1-1.
HIGHLIGHTS:
POST-GAME COMMENTS:
Head Coach Cam Rast on his assessment of the game:
"It was a good game against a tough team. We started the game ok and got under some pressure but we regained control in the second half. In some ways it was frustrating given the number of chances we had but we grew into the game and obviously the win was the result of that."
On how the red card changed the complexion of the game:
"With a red card, there's a numerical change in terms of the advantage we gain but it was called pretty late in the game so there wasn't a lot of time to take advantage of. The card defines the moment as far as what each team wants for a result, in this case, for UCSD a tie. And for us, it was to see how mature we are and how we would handle the opportunity. At the end, it allowed us to build the game."
On Deletioglu's goal:
"The quality of the action of the goal, Dyal's slip in behind, the cross by Wiersdorf and the finish by Deletioglu was exceptional. Even going against a deep compact line that UCSD had, we did a really nice job with the build up."
NEXT UP:
- Santa Clara next play at UC Davis on Aug. 31.
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