SAN DIEGO – San Diego Women's Soccer concluded the first season of the
Greg LaPorte era with a bang, earning a hard-fought 1-1 draw against national No. 11 Santa Clara on senior night Wednesday.
"As far as I was concerned, we had 19 rehearsals before this last game on senior night and for all the marbles as a last chance to get a result," USD Head Coach Greg Laporte said. "We just locked in and executed appropriately, I'm very proud of them."
History.
The Toreros finish the 2024 season with a 3-11-5 record, 1-7-2 in WCC play, however the program's first three-plus win season since 2021, with the conference win over Pacific on Oct. 23 being the first WCC win for the Toreros since 2021 as well.
Wednesday night's draw was historic in itself; it was the Toreros first point against a top-11 opponent since a 5-0 win over No. 10 Michigan over ten years ago and first point against a ranked opponent since Sept. 4 2015.
How it Happened
Sophomore
Aliya Garrett made her first career start in goal and took advantage of the opportunity, notching 10 saves to keep the Toreros in the match. Nine of the 10 (the last medically retired) graduating seniors had their names on LaPorte's final starting XI of the season in their last games of their college careers.
"Off the bat, I'm the dominant one," Garrett said. "No one's going to beat me to any ball, you take out a couple players and they get scared of you and there's no going back on that," Garrett said.
After a 55-minute deadlock, the Toreros were the first to find the back of the net, as junior forward
Josefine Schlichting broke through the Broncos back line and chipped it over the keeper just as she slid in.
On their senior nights, midfielders
Lexi Zandonella-Arasa and
Natalie Yoo were credited with the first and second assists, as Zandonella-Arasa threaded the ball through to Schlichting.
Garrett and the Toreros would hold strong against one of the nation's top offenses until the 71
st minute when Garrett made a terrific save, however parrying it to Santa Clara's Tori Powell who spoiled USD's clean sheet.
The match would remain knotted the remaining 19 minutes before the final whistle, ending in the 1-1 tie despite San Diego being outshot 23-5 and 12-2 on target.
Senior Night
The Toreros honored 10 graduating seniors prior to the start of the game:
3 |
Lexi Zandonella-Arasa | M | Sr. | Concord, Calif. / Carondelet HS / Sonoma State
7 |
Sara Evans | M | Sr. | Fayetteville, Ga. / Starr's Mill HS
9 |
Katie Baxter | D | Gr. | Sammamish, Wash. / Eastside Catholic HS
12 |
Margaret Rabbitt | D | Gr. | Concord, Mass. / Concord-Carlisle Regional HS / George Washington
14 |
Lexi Nobles | F | Sr. | North Tustin, Calif. / Foothill HS
16 | My Haugland Sørsdahl | D | Gr. | Moss, Norway / Wang Toppidrett / UCLA
24 |
Lauren Tanner | F | Sr. | Truckee, Calif. / Tahoe Truckee HS / Arkansas
25 |
Molly Quarry | D | Gr. | Bowen Island, Canada / Burnaby Central HS / Nebraska / Montana
27 |
Jenn Hashimoto | D | Sr. | North Vancouver, Canada / Burnaby Central HS
33 |
Natalie Yoo | M | Gr. | Austin, Texas / Lake Travis HS / Texas A&M / Coastal Carolina
In the senior celebration, each senior was escorted onto the field by family members, but My Haugland Sørsdahl's family was unable to attend so she had a teammate walkout with her ...
Aliya Garrett.
"Seniors, we'll miss you all greatly and can't wait to see all the things you'll accomplish next," LaPorte said prior to the match to the seniors. "Know that you'll always be part of the Torero family."
