MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's scored a goal early in each half including the go-ahead goal by Sam Danner to defeat Santa Clara men's soccer 2-1 in a West Coast Conference match on Wednesday afternoon. Danner's tally occured just 76 seconds into the second half as the Gaels (1-5-5, 1-2-1 WCC) held on to pick up their first win of the season and give the Broncos (4-3-6, 1-1-2 WCC) their first WCC blemish, snapping their six-match unbeaten streak.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Danner's game winner came off a feed from Adam Dring at the 47th minute mark with the match knotted at 1-all. The graduate transfer from Fairfield corralled Dring's pass inside the 18, took two quick dribbles with his left foot to create some separation with the Bronco defenders and unleashed a shot that hit the crossbar, bounced down and into the goal, for his first goal of the season.
- Santa Clara chased after the equalizer for the remainder of the match but were unable to get one despite getting off six shots in the half.
- Saint Mary's also got off to a quick start in the opening 45, striking first in the 10th minute on a set piece opportunity. On a corner kick from the left side, the ball deflected off a Bronco defender to Bastian Toelhoej on the far post where he headed it in for his fifth goal of the season. It was the first goal conceded by the Broncos in the last 363 minutes. The goal also snapped SCU goalkeeper Jackson Ozburn's shutout streak of three consecutive matches spanning over 318 minutes.
- Despite giving up the early goal to start the match, the Broncos dictated the pace of play in the opening half and put three shots on goal with the final one finding the back of the net. Will Wiersdorf leveled the match in the 42nd minute getting the ball on a back heel flick from Simon Diagana and burying a shot past the Gaels goalkeeper Sam Bentley. Ethan Martinez was also credited with an assist for initiating the first pass to Diagana.
- For Wiersdorf, it was his third goal of the season, good for second most on the team. Diagana and Martinez were credited with their third assists of the year to move atop the team lead.
NOTABLE NUMBERS / GAME NOTES:
- Saint Mary's cut into Santa Clara's all-time series lead to 44-13-8.
- The shots were even at 11 apiece for each team. Wiersdorf had a team-high three shots with each of them on target while Toelhoej led the Gaels with three shots also.
HIGHLIGHTS:
POST-GAME COMMENTS:
Head Coach Cam Rast's thoughts on the game:
"It was a tough game because Saint Mary's hasn't had any success this season but they've battled and played close in a bunch of games. They just haven't figured out how to fight through it but hats off to them for figuring it out today. The game was disjoined where it was physical and disruptive. On the first goal we conceded, we didn't do a good job battling through and gave away a goal on a corner kick. But we came back and Will had a great goal off a nice pass from Simon so I was happy with that. The second goal we allowed was in the 'big five' moment, the first five minutes to start the half, where we didn't step into the ball on the pass and they smashed it through and that was the difference. We created a couple of good moments after that but it wasn't good enough. The field was wet and sloppy so it was tough to figure it out. It was slippery and sandy and we didn't adapt to it well leading to some of the disjointedness I mentioned. We weren't sharp enough and didn't overcome their physicality so it was just disappointing overall."
NEXT UP:
- Santa Clara welcomes San Francisco to Stevens Stadium on Sunday at 7 p.m. PT. To purchase tickets, click here.
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