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Palo Alto, Calif. -- The third-ranked Nebraska women's soccer team suffered its first loss of the season, falling to top-ranked Santa Clara, 2-1, in the championship game of the the Stanford NIKE Invitational Sunday afternoon. With the victory, Santa Clara improves to 7-0-0 while the Huskers, who have posted victories over four top-25 teams this season, fell to 7-1-0 on the season.
The Broncos opened the scoring with a pair of first half goals. Heather Aldama put Santa Clara up 1-0 with a goal in the 25th minute off an assist from Mandy Clemens. Aldama took a back heel from Jacqui Little and lofted a 16-yard shot from the right flank over NU goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc for her first goal of the season. Clemens, who was chosen as Soccer America's Preseason National Player of the Year, made it 2-0 at 42:37 when she chipped a 12-yard shot over the head of the onrushing LeBlanc for her seventh goal of the season.
Despite being outshot 11-3 in the contest, the Huskers cut the Santa Clara lead to 2-1 in the 69th minute when All-America forward Lindsay Eddleman scored off a corner kick from junior Jenny Benson. The goal was Eddleman's sixth of the season, and she needs just five points to tie Kim Engesser's school record of 116 career points. Benson's assist was her team-best seventh of the season, and she has at least one assist in the last five games. The Huskers continued to apply pressure in the final minutes, but were unable to put the match into overtime.
"Santa Clara was better than us today, but at the same time, I thought we did some good things," Nebraska Coach John Walker said. "Most importantly, we didn't give up when we got down early. We continued to battle and fight. I thought in the second half we were the ones controlling the game. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get more shots off, but they are a great team."
NU goaltender Karina LeBlanc finished the match with four saves while Santa Clara netminder Crystal Gordon had one.
The Huskers play host to Tulsa this Friday, Sept. 24, at the Abbott Sports Complex, beginning at 7p.m. before traveling to Clemson, S.C. to take on the 18th-ranked Tigers on Sunday, Sept. 26.