Santa Clara (11-1-3, 5-0-1)
#20 Santa Clara went in front 24 seconds into the match and never looked back in their 3-1 win over visiting Portland (9-6-1, 3-2-1) on Saturday night. With the win, the Broncos clinched the West Coast Conference championship and an automatic NCAA tournament berth.
The Broncos’ first goal was set up when the Pilots’ Kevin Bonilla was yellow carded for a foul just outside the box. Javier Ruiz Duran took the free kick and curved the ball into a crowd of players in the box. Damani Osei’s one-timer bounced once off the turf and settled just inside the left post.
The Pilots had a couple of good chances in the first half. In the 19th minute, Sebastian Nava’s shot from 20 yards out hit the crossbar, after a slight redirection by goalkeeper Ruben Stuiver. Four minutes later, Stuiver also made a crucial kick save on a breakaway by John Atem Kato.
The Broncos doubled their lead in the 49th minute, when a shot by Oladayo Thomas bounced off of a Portland defender’s arm. Thomas converted the subsequent penalty kick with a slow dribbler inside the right post.
There was hope for the Pilots in the 68th minute, when the Broncos’ Alex Achramowicz wrapped his arms around Gurman Sangha as he went down in the box. On the subsequent penalty kick, Stuiver dove to his left and Nava blasted his shot inside the right post.
The Broncos sealed the win in the 73rd minute, when Juan O’Neill made a run along the left side and dumped the ball off to Thomas at the top of the box. Eduardo Lopez Perez was closely marked by a Portland defender but was able to stick out his right leg to redirect Thomas’s left-footed cross into the net.
San José State (9-6-3, 7-2-2)
A first-half brace by Levonte Johnson enabled host Seattle University (12-7-0, 8-3-0) to earn a 2-1 victory over the Spartans on Saturday evening, their first loss since September 25. The match was played in a heavy rainstorm, including intermittent sleet.
Seattle University goalkeeper Akili Kasim made 8 saves in the match, including 4 in the first 15 minutes.
But the Redhawks got on the board first, with a goal in the 19th minute. Spartans goalkeeper Eric Waltz stopped a low, hard shot from Noe Meza, but Johnson was there to pounce on the rebound.
The Spartans responded 2 minutes later, when Carlos Gomez-Zavala set up Willy Miranda for his sixth goal of the season.
The Redhawks broke the tie in the 43rd minute, when Declan McGlynn made a strong run down the left side and Peter Kingston’s cross set up Johnson to score the game-winner.
With the win, Seattle University vaults past the Spartans in the Western Athletic Conference standings and into the second seed in the upcoming conference tournament. San Jose State is the 4th seed and will take on 5th seeded Utah Valley on Wednesday.
USF (2-11-1, 0-4-1) vs. Stanford (6-6-5, 2-4-3)
Freshman Will Reilly scored the only goal of the match with 54 seconds remaining in regulation time to enable the Cardinal to escape with 3 points from their trip to San Francisco on Thursday evening.
The goal was set up by Carlo Agostinelli who lobbed the ball high into the air as Zach Ryan, defender Shayan Charalaghi, and goalkeeper Brandon Keniston all converged on the ball at the edge of the 6-yard box. The ball squirted out to Reilly, who ran onto the ball and blasted a right-footed shot into the net as USF defender Nathan Buckalew made a desperate attempt to get in its way.
Keniston was busy all evening, as the Cardinal outshot the Dons 19-5. His only save of the first half came in the 13th minute, when deflected Ryan’s shot from point blank range over the crossbar. He made 4 saves in the second half, including a 77th minute free kick from Bouda that skipped across the goalmouth until Keniston was able to redirect it over the endline.
Cardinal goalkeeper Matt Frank made 4 saves in recording a clean sheet, including a shot by Nathan Simeon in the 19th minute and three attempts by Nonso Adimabua in the second stanza.
Dons Fall to Lions on Late Goal
Narciso Cervantes scored in the only goal of the match in the 88th minute to enable Loyola Marymount (12-4-1, 4-2-0) to escape with a victory over host USF (2-12-1, 0-5-1) on Sunday afternoon.
The Lions executed a series of passes in rapid succession to set up the winning goal. Bastien Oberli received an entry pass from near midfield, cut back toward the middle and dropped the ball with Ronaldo Brown. Brown turned and fired a short pass as Braden Fidelak and Duhaney Williams made crossover runs. Goalkeeper Brandon Keniston swatted away Williams’ left-footed shot, but the rebound came out to the left edge of the 6-yard box. Cervantes raced over to claim it first, and his left-footed blast made its way through the goal mouth and settled inside the right post.
The Lions outshot the Dons 19-5 and Keniston made 6 saves to help keep his club in the match. Lions’ goalkeeper Jacob Jackson was only required to make one save, on a shot by Shayan Charalaghi in the 7th minute.
Saint Mary’s (10-6-1, 3-2-1)
A balanced attack enabled the Gaels to earn a 3-1 win over Gonzaga (7-9-0, 2-4-0) in their final regular season road match of the season.
The Gaels struck first in the 3rd minute. The Bulldogs’ Devin Slingsby intercepted David Brog’s through ball and tried tp redirect it out of danger. Valentin Kurz gathered the loose ball at the top of the box, took two steps to find the right shooting angle, and fired a low shot that bounced once on the turf and skidded under the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Thomas Ewert.
The Bulldogs evened up the match in the 35th minute when Loic Baures sent in a low cross from the left side. The Gaels’ Gael Quintero tried to trap the ball with his chest, but it also caromed off of his hand. Logan Dorsey blasted the subsequent penalty kick into the upper left corner of the net.
The Gaels reclaimed the lead in the 41st minute when Sebastian Schacht blocked a pass from Noah Bushey 25 yards from goal. Riley Lynch grabbed the loose ball and played a give-and-go with Andrew Rotter. Several Bulldog converged upon Lynch at the top of the penalty arc, but he was able to make enough space to get off a left-footed blast into the top right corner of the net.
The Gaels put the match away in the 60th minute, when Kurz was clipped from behind by Baures just outside the penalty area. Boyd Curry’s free kick scaled the five-man wall and squeezed past Ewert at the near post. Curry sprinted to the other end of the field to celebrate with his teammates.
Cal (3-9-2, 1-6-0)
The Golden Bears did not play this week. They finish their season at home vs. Stanford on Thursday afternoon.
