November 18th, Charlottesville, Va
The Santa Clara women's soccer team drove home its point Saturday that it
deserved a little more respect by defeating Virginia 1-0 in the second
round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Broncos finished the regular season with a seven-game winning streak
and were ranked seventh in the nation. But the NCAA scheduled them to play
eighth-renaked Stanford in the first round of the tournament then to
travel to No. 10 Virginia which received a first-round bye despite its
lower ranking.
The Santa Clara squad next travels to face nine-time defending champion
North Carolina on Saturday at 10am. Earlier this season the Tar Heels
defeated the Broncos 2-0.
"We felt we deserved a bye and we were disapponted not to receive one,"
SCU midfielder Mikka Hansen said. "Tonight we proved to the NCAA that we
deserve a lot more respect and that we deserved a bye"
The Broncos (16-3-2) dominated, outshooting the Cavaliers 14-3. But they
didn't break through until the 73rd minute, when Hansen sprang Samantha
Obarra with a pass down the left wing that drew several Calaviers'
defenders. Obarra lobbed a centering pass to a wide-open Erin Martinez,
who volleyed a 12-fott shot into the upper-right corner of the goal.
"When I made the pass to Sam, I saw defenders move over toward her," Hansen
said. "I yelled 'see Erin, see Erin' and I guess she heard me because she
made a nice pass."
"When you're that wide open, that can be a hard shot to make" SCU Coach
Jerry Smith said. "Especially in a close game, you're like a field-goal
kicker and you can start thinking about it too much."
The SCU defense kept the Cavaliers from establishing any offensive rhythm.
Virginia's only real chance came in the 13th minute when Wendy Hartwig
took a Dina Padula cross and headed a shot that Broncos goalkeeper
Christina Sanchez just managed to knock wide.
This is the first time that SCU has won two post-season games. In 1990
the Broncos reached the final four before losing to Connecticut, but the
tournament featured 12 teams then and SCU had to win only one game to
advance that far.
Rather than make two coast-to-coast trips in one week, SCU will stay in
Virginia before making the four-hour drive to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face
the Tar Heels. "We only have school two days this week, so we won't miss
that much class time." said Smith. "It will be easier for us to train
rather than making long flights."
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