Santa Clara Women Fall In West Coast Conference Opener
Soccer News: In the West Coast Conference opener, Santa Clara women’s soccer fell to San Francisco by a final of 1-0. It was the first lost for the Broncos to the Dons in program history. They had been 30-0-1. The win also gives USF its first victory over a ranked opponent since a 2-0 upset of then-No. 22 Pepperdine on Oct. 22, 2006.
Jenna Roering led the Broncos (7-4-0, 0-1-0 WCC) with two shots on goal. Dani Weatherholt attempted three shots as well. Andi Tostanoski picked up three saves in net. San Francisco’s (7-2-3, 1-0-0 WCC) goal came from Samantha Jehnings on a penalty kick. Madelyn Schiffel came up huge with five saves for the Dons.
“I thought we had a pretty flat performance today,” said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. “Conference is a new season and USF is a tough team that only has two losses. If you combine a well-coached team with a flat performance, that’s what you get. I’m not sure what happened on the penalty kick but it was tough because it put us in a hole. We still had plenty of game left to find a way to manufacture a goal. Their goalkeeper was outstanding and their team fought harder for the game. That was enough for them to get the victory. This is something we can learn from going forward.”
In the 21st minute a foul was called on the Broncos in the penalty box to give the Dons a PK. Jehnings converted the attempt to make the score 1-0.
The Broncos had several dangerous chances in the second half but the USF goalkeeper stepped up huge and made three big saves to keep the score at 1-0. Roering attempted two shots that Shiffel dove to stop and Julie Vass had had another great shot that was stopped.
“They’re a great program,” said San Francisco head coach Jim Millinder after the match. “Their team has had a great year and I’m sure they’re going to go on and make a run at the WCC title. We had some early chances in the first half, but then we just tried to absorb it in the second half. Every one of the girls just did a great job.”
Both teams play their next games Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. at home; Santa Clara faces LMU and San Francisco faces Pepperdine.
