Lady Broncos dominate Denver in 3-0 shutout

SANTA CLARA — The Santa Clara University Women's Soccer team are enjoying the start of West Coast Conference play.

The Lady Broncos had three different goal scorers as they led from start to finish in an dominating 3-0 shutout victory of the University of Denver Pioneers on a hot, sunny Saturday afternoon at Stevens Stadium at Buck Shaw Field.

Santa Clara (6-2-4-2-0 WCC) has won two games in a row, including their first two games of conference play. They are atop of the conference standings with Pepperdine University, who also has started out 2-0. Denver (2-6-2-1-1 WCC) fell for the first time in conference play and only have two wins overall on the season.

Santa Clara drew first blood early in the fourth minute. Kieirra Venson's foul inside the box set up the Lady Broncos with a penalty shot. After a review confirming the penalty, forward Kennedy Schoennauer buried the chance into the upper left corner of the net as a diving Denver goalkeeper Jaidin Kinch had no chance of keeping the ball out of the net

The Lady Broncos dictated the play and controlled the possession of play for the majority of the first half. They kept the ball away from Denver as they had the Lady Pioneers on their heels for the majority of the opening 45 minutes.

Santa Clara doubled its lead in the 17th minute thanks to a great pass from Schoennauer. Litsy Alcocer found Schoennauer down the left wing. The San Jose native dribbled down toward the end line before crossing the ball into the middle of the box. Hildi Benediktsdottir headed the ball out of the air past Kinch for a 2-0 lead that left Denver deflated for the rest of the half.

The best scoring chance for the Lady Pioneers came in the 32nd minute when a shot from 20 yards out by Maeve Morgan was calmly saved by Lady Broncos goalkeeper Ally Harrison.

In the second half Santa Clara continued its momentum it earned in the first half by keeping possession away from Denver and methodically looked for counterattacks in the attacking third of the zone.

Mia Erba put the cherry on top for the Lady Broncos when she scored in the 88th minute. Erba landed a low shot to the left corner of the goal after finishing off a cross from Tessa Ferguson. Benediktsdottir was credited with a secondary assist on the play.

Harrison needed to make just one save to earn her clean sheet.

The Lady Broncos continue WCC play when they host the University of Pacific Tigers on Wednesday October 7 at 7:00pm from Stevens Stadium.