NCAA women's tourney

Rodriguez's late tally allows USC to upset top seed Santa Clara 1-0.

Amy Rodriquez provided a dramatic late goal to allow Southern California to shock Santa Clara. -- University of Southern California web site photo --

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Friday, November 10, 2006) -- Sophomore striker Amy Rodriguez scored an unassisted goal with less than four minutes remaining, allowing unranked Southern California to stun No. 3 Santa Clara in a first-round match of the NCAA Women's Division I Soccer Championship tournament at Buck Shaw Stadium tonight.

SCU (15-5-1) which had reached at least the national quarterfinals for the past 11 years and won the NCAA championship in 2001, was one of two Top 10 teams to go down in the 32 first-round matches. Sophomore defender Julia Falk and freshman midfielder Nikki Lieb scored second-half goals to lift Virginia past 10th-ranked West Virginia 2-0 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Broncos were the top seed in their NCAA region. "I just can't believe it," SCU junior forward Meaghan Snell said. "We're such a good team and we worked so hard to get that No. 1 seed, but when it comes down to it, seeding doesn't matter. Soccer is a funny game. I thought we played very well, and I'm disappointed for our seniors."

Both Southern Cal (11-4-5) and Virginia (11-7-2) had been in the Top 25 all season, before falling out in the last regular-season rankings of the SoccerTimes.com College Coaches Poll. Virginia had been ranked as high as ninth earlier in the season with the Women of Troy reaching as high as No. 16.

As the prospect of sudden-death overtime neared, USC went on the attack. Senior defender Jocelyn Hein moved deep down the right flank and served a cross into the box. A Santa Clara defender headed the ball away, but Rodriguez was quick to gain possession. She nailed her shot inside the near post to make it 1-0 with 3:54 to go.

"We crossed it in and the defender deflected it right to my foot," said Rodriguez, who missed five matches this season while playing for the United States under-20 women in the world championships is Russia in August, as well as making three appearances for the full national team . "I looked up and saw (SCU senior keeper) Julie Ryder coming at me, saw the near post open and slotted it in."

The match was a defensive struggle, especially in the first half when there were only seven shots with the Broncos holding a 4-3 advantage, 2-1 on goal. SCU also outshot the Women of Troy 10-8 for the game, putting four on frame after intermission to only one for USC -- Rodriguez's fourth tally of the season.

"Coming in as the underdog, not expected to win, I think we all put it out there on the field and brought our A-game," Rodriguez said. "We worked hard and that enabled us to stay tied at halftime and then go ahead in the second half."

SCU squandered a prime opportunity in the 56th minute when senior midfielder Marian Dalmy slammed a penalty kick against the left side of the crossbar. The PK had been awarded after USC sophomore defender Janessa Currier took down freshman forward Kiki Bosio in the USC box.

"(SCU coach) Jerry (Smith) and I talked about it the day before. We thought they might know my tendencies. said Dalmy, who had connected on all three of her earlier penalty attempts this season. "I still went to my usual side, I just wanted to hit it a little harder, but I think I hit it too hard and got a little too pretty with the post,"

Twelve minutes later, USC junior goalkeeper Veronica Simonton made a solid save of a strong header by Broncos junior midfielder Jordan Angeli off a corner kick. Simonton also denied Angeli on the only shot after USC claimed the lead.

"I'm very proud of us all," said Simonton, who was aggressive throughout the contest, snagging crosses and hustling to one loose ball in her box. "We knew what we were up against and we fought through it. We didn't want it to end tonight for our seniors and we stayed focused through 90 minutes."

Simonton has 11 clean sheets this season -- the Women of Troy had 14 -- and 25 for her career.

"Our team played a complete game for 90 minutes. We dodged a few bullets, but got the `W,' " USC coach Jim Millinder said. "We're pleased to advance. Our kids did an awesome job tonight, weathered some storms and showed great character and heart and persevered. It's a great win for the program.

"Santa Clara is such a great team and I think we frustrated them by not giving them the space to play, especially around the box. . . We didn't give them a chance to get into their rhythm and, in goal, Veronica has been big-time for us all year long, so it's a real credit to everybody."

In the second game of the doubleheader, freshman forward Ali Riley scored in the first half and sophomore striker Hillary Heath added late insurance for No. 16 Stanford (14-6-1), which edged Nevada 2-1.

Sophmore defender Randee Robinson headed in a corner kick with less than a minute remaining to get Nevada (13-5-4) on the board.

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