'Eaters Lose Tussle with Santa Clara, 1-0

Thursday, September 11

Irvine, Calif.

6:00 PM

UC Irvine

2-2-4, 0-0-0

Santa Clara

4-3-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Santa Clara	0	1	1
UC Irvine	0	0	0

Photo by: Jacob Thompson

'Eaters Lose Tussle with Santa Clara, 1-0

September 11, 2025 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau

IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine women's soccer fell Thursday night to Santa Clara, 1-0, ending its five-match unbeaten streak in Anteater Stadium.

The Grit and Grind

Through the first 45 minutes, UC Irvine and Santa Clara battled it out matching each other throughout
The defenses gave up some chances, but nothing truly threatening in the half.
Santa Clara upped the pressure in the final minutes with three shots in the final six minutes, but most from distance as the first 45 minutes ended 0-0

A Zill-ion Saves

The second half opened up with both teams on their game and weaving through each other's third with precision
The Anteaters had control of possession, but the Broncos put up the chances with a pair of early shots including one needing a brilliant, leaping save by Laurynn Ziller in the 51st minute.
UCI's best chance came in the 68th minute with Clara Samson finding space from the left wing and curling a shot just long of the goal
The breakthrough finally came in the 74th minute
- Santa Clara approached the box from the left wing sliding a pass into Leah O'Brien whose shot eluded Ziller in net and settled inside the right post for a 1-0 Broncos lead
The hunt was on for the equalizer with the 'Eaters with a pair of hard shots missing just high.
Santa Clara nearly had a second in the 81st minute if not for another amazing leaping tip save by Ziller

Santa Clara 1, UC Irvine 0

UCI welcomed Santa Clara to Anteater Stadium for the first time since 2015. The all-time series continues to work in the Broncos' favor at 15-0-1
Laurynn Ziller was on another level to make her four saves on the night returning after missing the prior match with injury. Santa Clara used two keepers in the match with Ally Reynolds earning the win after entering at half time

UC Irvine stands at 2-2-4 on the year and continues their homestretch with two more on the slate and the next one Sunday, September 14 at 1:00 p.m. vs. Washington State.

Postgame Thoughts
Laurynn Ziller - "In the first half we were doing really well, connecting and everything. For me, it was just awesome to get back out on the field. Obviously, I wish I had that one moment back, but I think we played well and now we just move on to the next one, next up is Washington State."

Trinity Morales - "Those moments when we get tired we start making little easy mistakes and we're getting frustrated. Our whole thing was to switch the field and we stopped doing that. Definitely tuning in on the little details, we kind of lost our focus on that and they were really focused. We just have to switch on in those small moments because they add up in the end."

"I still think we held our own against them. I think following our game plan, they played just the way the coaches described to us. I think we followed the game plan, we just need to execute and like I said the smaller details, but I think we went toe-to-toe with them."