Santa Clara University’s men’s soccer team opened its 2025 season with a 1-1 draw against Cleveland State at Krenzler Field on Thursday night. Both teams scored within the first 20 minutes of play.
Cleveland State took the lead in the ninth minute when Matteo Correia chipped the ball over Santa Clara goalkeeper Jackson Ozburn, following a diagonal pass from Djordje Petrovic. Correia managed to control the ball and finish into an empty net after a defensive miscommunication.
Santa Clara equalized in the 20th minute through Simon Diagana, who scored his first career goal with a header just outside the six-yard box. The assist came from freshman Ethan Martinez, marking his debut for the Broncos.
The Broncos had more offensive opportunities in the first half, outshooting Cleveland State 10-4. Will Wiersdorf was responsible for four of those attempts. In contrast, both teams produced only five shots combined in the second half, with Tom Mertz’s close-range effort in the 79th minute being saved by Ozburn for his only save of the match.
Santa Clara now leads its all-time series against Cleveland State 4-0-1. Head coach Cam Rast holds a record of 12-10-2 in season openers.
Newcomers Martinez, Alejandro Arenas, Niv Berkovitz, and Diego Diaz were named to Santa Clara’s starting lineup. Moises Almontes, James Wangsness, Gabrielius Mazonas, James Saggau and Josmar Guandique made their debuts as substitutes.
Head coach Cam Rast commented on his team’s performance: “I thought Cleveland State came out really pumped being at home and put a lot of pressure early on to make us work hard. As we were trying to settle down, we didn’t do a good job keeping track of one of their fastest player and leading returning goal scorer in Correia. There was a miscommunication between Diego Diaz and Ozburn and because of it, Correia was able to poke it into the net. We needed to be sharper there. But the good thing is we fought back and battled as Simon scored a great goal. It was classy and he headed it in on a good cross from Ethan. The rest of the first half was ours as we had a couple of good looks and outshot them. Cleveland State sat deep and we tried to open them up but we couldn’t get the final touch. We’ll need to work on the attacking side when we get back and see if there’s a way to turn more of these shots on goal into scores.”
Santa Clara will host UC Davis for its home opener on Sunday at 7:30 p.m Pacific Time.
