Santa Clara University’s men’s soccer team was defeated 4-0 by Grand Canyon University on Monday evening at GCU Stadium in Phoenix. The match took place during the final game of a five-game homestand for Grand Canyon, which now holds a 4-1 record on the season.
Grand Canyon’s Nelson Gomez Rodriguez scored twice, with goals in the 42nd and 50th minutes. These were his first two goals of the season. He entered the match as a substitute and helped give Grand Canyon a lead they maintained throughout. In the first half, Grand Canyon controlled possession with 60 percent and outshot Santa Clara 8-3, taking a one-goal advantage into halftime. They also had six corner kicks to Santa Clara’s zero.
Michael Watkins extended Grand Canyon’s lead early in the second half with his first goal of the year, followed shortly by Gomez Rodriguez’s second goal to make it 3-0. Junior Diouf completed the scoring with a penalty kick in the final minute.
Santa Clara, now with a record of 2-2-2, was unable to score against Grand Canyon’s defense. This loss marks their third consecutive road game and brings their all-time series record against Grand Canyon to 1-2-1. Sophomore goalkeeper Carter Tseu made his debut for Santa Clara during this match.
Head coach Cam Rast commented on his team’s performance: “I thought early on in the match, we kinda got after it and we battled. We maintained possession but 30 minutes in, we started to struggle and it became a bit of a challenge. We dodged a bullet earlier in the half but unfortunately conceded one late in the half and that changed the game. Grand Canyon managed the ball and came after it so we shifted our lineup after intermission but that didn’t work as we conceded another goal right at the start of the second half. They have a couple of really athletic players who can dribble and unlock things and that was a bit of a challenge. We tried a couple of other looks and battled some but we weren’t sharp tonight and couldn’t get on our front foot. We gave up a little too much away and it led to multiple chances for them. GCU played to their strengths. We dealt with the elements as well as they did but overall we just needed to be better and stronger. We’ll evaluate what worked well and try to build on that. It was not a good performance for us.”
Santa Clara will return home for their next match against UNLV on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
