Nov. 10, 2005
Box Score
SPOKANE, Wash. - Grant Lundberg scored 6:49 into the first overtime and Gonzaga University kept its West Coast Conference men's soccer title hopes alive with a 2-1 victory over No. 11 and league-leading Santa Clara University on Thursday.
Lundberg took a pass from Mark Stock and first from the 6-yard line to beat Broncos (12-5-2; 6-3-2) keeper Kevin Sweeney to send the Bulldogs (7-8-4; 5-4-2) into Saturday's home match against the University of San Francisco with a shot at the title.
The Broncos thought they had won the match in regulation, Mehdi Ballouchy shooting from about 25 yards high into the far right corner of the net as time expired, the middle referee waving off the goal without hesitation and sending the match to overtime.
The simplest title scenario for the Bulldogs is they have to beat USF; Loyola Marymount must beat the University of San Diego, and the University of Portland has to down the Broncos in Saturday matches. That would knot the Bulldogs and SCU for first place, and GU would get the tiebreaker based on SCU's 0-2-0 record against LMU while Gonzaga split the regular-season series with the Lions. That is the simplest and most cut-and-dried scenario, although there are others too numerous to delve into.
The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard first when George Josten scored his WCC-leading 12th goal of the season at 55:46. He took a pass from Nick Heinrichs, dribbled the length of the field and took a right-to-left shot that hit the left post and banged into the net. Josten was tied with Michael Clegg of Saint Mary's College with 11 goals heading into the match, but Clegg was held without a goal in the Gaels' 2-1 win over LMU. Josten also increased his total points lead over Clegg to 28-23 with the goal.
Santa Clara, which held a 22-9 shots advantage and controlled most of the territorial play, got the equalizer at 75:05 as Jamil Roberts scored his first goal of the season straightaway from 18 yards to beat Gonzaga keeper Dade Smith to his right.
Smith was making just his fourth appearance in goal and his third start this season, all of his appearances in the last two weeks. Smith, a sophomore from Bozeman, Mont., played 21 minutes against LMU after Vito Higgins was shaken up, then started the next two matches. Higgins returns to the nets last weekend for both matches, but head coach Einar Thorarinsson decided to make the switch against the Broncos.
"Dade has played well. He deserved a chance," Thorarinsson said. "Plus, I wasn't sure how the team would react after what happened Sunday." The Bulldogs surrendered two goals to the University of Washington in a 2:18 span inside the 85th minute to drop a 3-2 home decision Sunday. "I thought we came out ready, especially by getting a couple of quick shots early," Thorarinsson said.
The Bulldogs got two quick shots at just two minutes into the match, George Josten getting his point blank rebound shot blocked after the Broncos defense had blocked Mark Stock's attempt.
SCU also had a couple of scoring opportunities early, Ryan Wolfe taking Kelechi Igwe's cross and shooting right at Smith from 10 yards, and Wolfe's rebound shot going wide right.
Wolfe had another chance in the 12th minute, his hard shot from 12 yards stopped chest high by Smith. Stock nearly broke the scoreless tie for the Bulldogs in the 38th minute, hi header off a long pass tipped high to the right post by Sweeney.
Minutes after the Josten goal the Broncos' Brian Curry had a good look at the net, but he partially whiffed on his shot and the ball skidded wide right and out of bounds. SCU's Hector Guzman nearly tied the match in the 73rd minute, his hard, high shot from 20 yards stopped by Smith, the ball going off his hands and out of bounds as he failed to secure the ball on the save. Jamil Robert had a bad-angle shot from deep on the right side go off the post and off the Smith in the 75th minute.
In the overtime each team had a couple of harmless attempts, and Smith had the toughest save of the OT as Alex Tablin-Wolf took a cross and shot straight on from inside the 18-yard box.
Saturday's Senior Day match against USF begins at 1 p.m. on Martin Field.
