Nov. 6, 2005

Box Score

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - It was another spectacular Sunday special for the Lions, who pulled out a 2-1 win over #5 Santa Clara at Buck Shaw Stadium this afternoon. LMU is undefeated in its last five Sunday games, and beat the Broncos in Santa Clara for the first time in program history today. LMU sweeps the season series with the Broncos and moves into second place in the WCC with the win. The Lions are 3-1 in games against teams ranked in the top-10 this season.

Unmarked LMU forward Tony Chinakwe put the Lions on the scoreboard first in the sixth minute when a long throw-in was deflected to the left side of the penalty area. He finished with a hard shot past SCU keeper Kevin Sweeney into the upper near side of the goal.

Just before halftime, Cameron Rast inserted reserve forward Ted Kristensson into the lineup and the Ludvika, Sweden native responded by scoring in his second-straight match and tied the score at 1-1.

Following a LMU foul in Santa Clara's offensive end of the field, sophomore Peter Lowry sent a long free kick into the penalty area. LMU keeper Robert Flores came out of the front of goal to collect the free kick. But, Flores was unable to recover when Kristensson headed the ball backward on a looping shot that went just over his outstretched hands and into the goal.

Kristensson nearly put the Broncos ahead in the 49th minute when a hard-hit one-time shot curled up and over Flores and missed the crossbar by inches.

In the 70th minute, LMU midfielder Armando Melendez sent a high corner kick to the far post where teammate Michael Ogletree found a seam in the Bronco defense and headed the ball into the goal for the game winner.

Over the next 20 minutes, Santa Clara peppered the Lions goal looking for the equalizer. Flores saved three of SCU's seven shots during that stretch and an apparent goal in the 87th minute was disallowed.

After a Mehdi Ballouchy corner kick was blocked out of bounds by the LMU defense, senior Jeff Scott sent another corner kick into the penalty area where several Broncos crashed into the front of the goal. With a number of players from both sides bunched in front of the goal, the sideline referee was unable to make a definitive judgement that the ball crossed the goal line.

The Broncos final chance came in the 90th minute when a hard shot by Lowry sailed over the top of the crossbar.

Santa Clara outshot the Lions by a 16-9 margin in the match with nearly half of its shots finding frame. In the second period, the Broncos put 10 shots toward the goal. SCU led the match 7-5 in corners and committed 20 fouls to LMU's 14. SCU was offsides six times.

LMU improves to 7-7-4 on the season, and 5-4-1 in the WCC. Santa Clara drops to 12-4-2 with a 6-2-2 WCC record. With the victory, LMU jumps from fifth in the conference standings into second place heading into the last weekend of the season. The Lions head to Saint Mary's on Thursday before hosting San Diego at Sullivan Field on Saturday.

Loyola Marymount (7-7-4, 5-4-1 WCC) vs. Santa Clara (12-4-2, 6-2-2 WCC)
 Date: Nov 06, 2005  Attendance: 519
 Weather: Partly Cloudy, slight breeze
 Goals by period       1  2  Tot
 -------------------------------
 Loyola Marymount....  1  1 -  2
 Santa Clara.........  1  0 -  1
 SCORING SUMMARY:
  1.   5:23 LMU Chinakwe, Tony (Burling, Jimmy;YBARRA, Junior) - off cross left side
  2.  43:05 SCU KRISTENSSON, Ted (3) (LOWRY, Peter) - header off long free kick
  3.  69:05 LMU Ogletree, Michael (Melendez, Armando) - header off corner
 Shots: Loyola Marymount 9, Santa Clara 16
 Saves: Loyola Marymount 6 (Flores, Robert 6), Santa Clara 3 (SWEENEY, Kevin 3)

- GO LIONS! -