USC pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the NCAA Division I Women's Tournament when it beat No. 1 seed Santa Clara, 1-0, in the first round on Friday night before a stunned crowd at Buck Shaw Stadium.
After 11 straight years of reaching the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, fate finally caught up to the Broncos.
The turning point came in the 56th minute when freshman Kiki Bosio drew a penalty but captain Marian Dalmy smashed the penalty kick off the crossbar.
U.S. international Amy Rodriguez's scored in the 87th minute, slotting a ball to the near corner after a failed clearing attempt by SCU defender Hillary Schwartzbach — who had spent her first three seasons at USC — to break a 0-0 tie and give the victory to USC, which fell to Stanford, 2-1 in the second round on Sunday.
''We did a lot of things right today,'' said Santa Clara coach Jerry Smith, whose Broncos had not lost in the first round since 1994, ''but like all sports, soccer is a game of inches, and we hit the post once, and had some close misses.''
Smith reminded everyone that Brandi Chastain, his future wife, missed a penalty kick — to almost the exact spot that Dalmy missed — in her final Santa Clara game, a 2-1 loss to UConn in the 1990 semifinals.
''In Marian and Brandi,'' said Smith, ''I don't think you can find two better people at making penalty kicks. I think today it just proved that Marian is human, and I know she'd like to have that back.''