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NCAA women's tournament Wagner scores twice, Hawkins adds one, No. 1 Santa Clara blanks Connecticut 3-0.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Saturday, November 27, 1999) -- Freshman midfielder
Aly Wagner scored twice while first-year striker Devvyn Hawkins added
another goal for No. 1 Santa Clara, which continued its perfect season with
a 3-0 decision over 11th-ranked Connecticut in an NCAA tournament
quarterfinal this afternoon at Buck Shaw Stadium.
The Broncos (23-0) will face the winner of tomorrow's other quarterfinal which has Notre Dame visiting Nebraska. "Those East Coast teams are tough. We eked out a victory," said SCU coach Jerry Smith. "Uconn is a good tea,. Eight straight years to the (NCAA) quarterfinals." Wagner put SCU ahead 1-0 with 3:49 elapsed with an eight-yard shot to the near post off assists from Jacqui Little and Heather Aldama. At 70:07 Wagner scored again heading home a Danielle Slaton cross for a 2-0 lead. "Both of Aly's goals were very, very nice. The second one was outstanding," Smith said. "She played outstanding today and probably could have scored another one or two. That's how dangerous she was." Smith said it was important for the midfielders, such as Wagner to step up because UConn (17-8) focused on shutting down the Broncos' dangerous forwards. "We've always said, take what they give you and they took away our forwards ability to have room to move," Smith said. Hawkins headed in a Mandy Clemens cross from eight yards to make it 3-0 at 73:30. Santa Clara goalkeeper Crystal Gordon needed two saves to post her third straight shutout in the postseason and sixth in her last seven tournament games. |
