Aug. 27, 2005
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Arizona State Sun Devils tenth season of soccer began Friday night at Santa Clara, but the fifth ranked Broncos proved to be too strong, knocking off ASU 2-0. Santa Clara's Elyse Shelger came off the bench in the second half to assist on two almost identical goals less than three minutes apart to provide the margin of victory.
In the 65th minute, Shelger moved around the Arizona State defender just outside the left side of the penalty area and sent a perfect crossing pass just in front of the goal to the feet of junior forward Tina Estrada. The Fremont, Calif. native took the ball in stride and blasted a one-time shot into the lower right corner for the first goal of the season for SCU, which would ultimately be the game-winner.
Less than three minutes later, in the 68th minute, Shelger found space on the right side of the goal in nearly the exact opposite spot as the previous cross and found sophomore Jordan Angeli coming across the penalty area. Angeli dove at the ball and sent a perfect header past Arizona State goalkeeper Kim Bingham into the net from six yards in front of goal.
Arizona State had a chance to pull back a goal late in the game when senior Elizabeth Bogus broke free on a long pass at the top of the SCU penalty area. Bronco senior defender Micaela Esquivel tracked back quickly to make a key tackle and break-up the ASU scoring opportunity. Bronco junior goalkeeper Julie Ryder earned the win with six saves, three in each half of the game.
The two teams were evenly matched statistically with the Broncos outshooting Arizona State by a narrow 12-10 margin. SCU registered 16 fouls to the Sun Devils' nine and Bronco junior Marian Dalmy received a yellow card from match referee Bob Martinez in the 76th minute of the game.
The Sun Devils return to action on Sunday night, as they open the home portion of their schedule against Weber State. The game kicks off at 4 p.m. at Sun Devil Soccer Stadium.