CUP-LIFTING GAME
Santa Clara beats Florida State in a shootout for College Cup championship
Santa Clara coach Jerry Smith said he felt lost as he and his staff tried to figure out a way to break through top-seeded Florida State’s unusual defense that had shut down the Broncos’ offense.
Instead of a rousing halftime speech, Smith said Monday that no one knew exactly what to say.
“I didn’t know what formation to play,” he said after Santa Clara won its first NCAA women’s soccer title in 20 years with a 4-1 victory in a penalty shootout. Smith said he sent the players into the second half with a certain strategy but then ran onto the field and ordered a changeup. In the end, the coach said, it confused the players.
“It was one of the worst coaching halftime jobs I’ve ever done,” Smith said of his 34 years at Santa Clara.
None of it was true. Smith knew the Broncos were not going to quit no matter what the game plan was, not even while trailing for the first time in the tournament on a beautiful 63rd minute goal by Jenna Nighswonger.
Santa Clara, playing in its
11th College Cup and first final since 2002, never gave up in Cary, North Carolina, as former Broncos stars Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner, Danielle Slaton, Leslie Osborne and Jordan Angeli cheered from the stands.
Santa Clara might have been seeded 11th when the tournament started but Florida State coach Mark Kirkorian showed the Broncos supreme respect by reshaping his formation to slow them down. He asked his players to mark leading goalscorers Kelsey Turnbow and Izzy D’aquila the entire game after the two had totaled 17 goals in 11 matches before the championship. It seemed to work as the Seminoles (13-1-2) were 6 1/2 minutes from their third title since 2014.
But Santa Clara had awoken with a relentless attack
in the final minutes as the Broncos pressured the Seminoles higher up the field. The changeup was all Santa Clara needed in the play that made the program’s second title possible.
Turnbow, the team’s leading
scorer, struck in the 84th minute when everything seemed lost.
The senior forward stole an errant pass and charged into the penalty area as the Seminoles sturdy defense suddenly was in duress.
She switched the ball from her right foot to the left foot as defender Emily Madril slipped. Turnbow calmly punched the ball past goalkeeper Cristina Roque to tie the score for her 10th goal of the season. That’s where
the game ended after regulation and two overtime periods, forcing the PKs.
Turnbow credited the team’s pressure for causing the lapse that led to the equalizer.
“You could tell they were feeling the heat in the last few minutes,” she said.
Alex Loera, the defensive player of the College Cup, felt a goal was coming.
“Kelsey got the ball and did what she does best,” said Loera, who helped keep Florida State out of the goal for most of the game.
The Seminoles’ Yujie Zhao almost ended it with 54 seconds left in the first overtime when her shot hit the crossbar. But Santa Clara withstood everything Florida State threw at it.
That left the result to a nail-biting shootout. The Seminoles had reached the final with consecutive penalty victories over Duke and Virginia.
Santa Clara seemed unfazed as Julie Doyle calmly
scored the first shot. The Broncos Sally Menti, Turnbow and D’aquila also easily converted their shots while Florida State hit the right post on its first two tries.
“It felt like another day in practice,” Turnbow said of the penalties. “It was impressive.”
Everything about Santa Clara’s championship has been impressive. The Broncos didn’t play their first game until Feb. 20 because of Santa Clara County’s restrictions to help slow the spread of COVID-19. While other schools had a full fall schedule the Santa Clara players were in a bubble on campus for four months trying to practice their sport when permitted.
Loera said the time together helped the players become a family and trust each other on the field during times of adversity.
“I wasn’t panicky,” she said as regulation time drew to an end. “I knew we had it.”