SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's soccer clinched a share of the West Coast Conference Championship, its 14th in program history, on Joshua Dabora's goal in the 88th minute, defeating Pacific 2-1 in the regular season finale on Saturday night at Stevens Stadium. Dabora put some english on his back-heel shot as the ball was heading out of bounds at the end line, that spun between the legs of Tigers goalkeeper Joshua Moya into the back of the net to break a 1-all deadlock.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Dabora and Naji Elder supplied the offense for Santa Clara (7-7-3, 5-1-1 WCC) with goals in the 53rd and 88th minutes after the Broncos fell behind 1-0.
- Emmanuel T Benson-Oladeinbo put the Tigers (5-8-4, 1-5-1 WCC) on the board early in the second half when he headed in the goal off a corner kick from Cory Johnson.
- Santa Clara answered less than a minute later. Elder brought down a long delivery from Yoni Aidlberg to settle it just outside the six on the left side and cleanly struck the ball past Moya to level the match.
- The game looked to be headed to a 1-all draw when Dabora struck with his 'flick-n-trick' shot sending the team to a massive dog pile celebration in the corner of the pitch.
- It was Santa Clara's 14th WCC Championship and their first since 2022. This year's championship is shared with San Diego who clinched theirs a day earlier on Friday defeating Gonzaga 1-0. San Diego has the tiebreaker advantage due to their head-to-head win over Santa Clara and has automatically qualified for the NCAA Tournament berth. Santa Clara will find out its post-season fate on the NCAA Men's Soccer Selection Show on Monday, November 13 at 1 p.m. ET (NCAA.com live stream).
NOTABLE NUMBERS / GAME NOTES:
- 1: The goal was Elder's first in his Bronco career.
- 3: Dabora's game-winner was his third goal of the season.
- 4: Jack Civitts assisted on Dabora's goal as it was his fourth on the year.
- 5: Aidlberg assisted in both goals to take the team lead in that category with five.
- 8: Prior to the game, eight Bronco seniors - Jesse Anamoo, Caden Buckley, Joshua Dabora, Adem Hamdaoua, Tyrone Kirunda, Timmy Rast, Felix Schaefer and Jack Stoecker - along with Mason Hollingshead from Team IMPACT were recognized in a ceremony.
- 201: Head coach Rast, in his 22nd season at the helm, picked up his 201st career victory. He was recognized before the game and received a 200th victory game ball from Director of Athletics Renee Baumgartner. Rast has a career record of 201-148-64 including a 104-64-34 record in league play.
HIGHLIGHTS:
POST-GAME COMMENTS:
NEXT UP:
- Santa Clara finds out on the NCAA Men's Soccer Selection Show on Monday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. ET to see if they made it to the NCAA Tournament.
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