San Francisco Soccer Drops Tough 3-2 Decision to Santa Clara
Danny Kirkland Scores Twice For The Dons

DONS SOCIAL MEDIA HUB  |  SANTA CLARA BOX SCORE

November 2, 2011

(San Francisco) – San Francisco men’s soccer struck first, but Santa Clara struck last, taking a 3-2 come-from-behind victory in West Coast Conference action Wednesday night at Negoesco Stadium. The Dons (6-8-2, 4-4-1 WCC) played a man down for most of the second half and the Broncos (8-5-4, 4-4-1 WCC) scored three unanswered in the final 24 minutes of the contest.

“This is a very tough loss,” USF head coach Erick Visser said. “When you go up 2-0 at halftime, we knew we had a tough 45 minutes ahead of us. We were very comfortable when we were 11 v. 11 and felt we could close out the game. It was a very unfortunate red card and then we were asked to play 11 against 10 against a very good team. We gave it all we had, but when all is said and done, we just ran out of gas. I give Santa Clara a lot of credit for bouncing back.”

Freshman midfielder Danny Kirkland put the Dons firmly on top with a pair of goals off free kicks. The first came from 25 yards out on a sensational curling shot tucked into the upper corner of the far post, defeating a five-man wall in the 18th minute. Kirkland completed his first career multi-goal match in the 27th minute from 35 yards out on a booming kick to the top corner. It was the third goal in three games for Kirkland.

It started to unravel for San Francisco early in the second half. Senior defender Kevin Orozco was sent off on an unfortunate red card in the 57th minute and USF went with 10 men from there.

Santa Clara capitalized in the 77th minute on a goal from Eric Masch, off a feed from Wesley Culver. The Broncos tied it just over 10 minutes later when Glenn Vass scored his fourth goal of the season off an assist from Eric Hurtado in the 88th minute.

Mykell Bates gave Santa Clara the victory in the 88th minute off a corner kick.

Santa Clara had a huge 22-6 shot advantage on the Dons, including a 16-2 edge after the intermission. Erik Hurtado fired a match-high seven saves for the Broncos. Kirkland and freshman striker Miguel Aguilar added two apiece for the Green and Gold.

Larry Jackson (2-1-1) collected the win for the Broncos and made one save. Junior goalkeeper Brendan Roslund (6-7-2) took the loss and collected six saves for USF.

“Our kids fought as hard as they could,” Visser said. “I’m proud of the way they battled. It’s another learning experience for a very young team. It hurts very much. It stings. Obviously three points at home would help us very much in the title race. However we still have three big games to play.”

San Francisco returns to action when it travels to the East Bay to take on longtime rival and league-leading Saint Mary’s Friday, November 4. Game time is set for 3:00 PM in Moraga.