This week in history: Toreros pull off a pair of upsets

Men’s Soccer blanks No. 2 Santa Clara in ‘04, Volleyball takes down No. 9 BYU in ‘14

Eric Boose / Sports Editor

Toreros stun second-ranked Broncos, 2-0

In the early 2000s, the West Coast Conference (WCC) was somewhat of a men’s soccer powerhouse. The WCC had a whopping four representatives at the NCAA tournament in 2001, 2003, and 2004. And in that strong WCC, the University of San Diego had one of the stronger teams. The Toreros earned six straight NCAA tournament appearances between 1998 and 2003, winning the conference title in 1998, 1999, and 2000. 

By 2004, San Diego was still a solid team, but their season was not off to the best start, and with only one win in their first four conference games by mid-October, they needed another one soon to stand a chance of making a seventh-straight postseason appearance. It was not the most ideal time to face off against the No. 2 team in the country. 

Unlike the Toreros, the Santa Clara University Broncos were off to a great start to their 2004 season, winning 11 of their first 12 games, their only defeat coming at the hands of the fourth-ranked Cal Golden Bears. 

In need of a win, and facing their toughest opponent of the season, the Toreros stepped up. San Diego continued to play solid defense, shutting out a Bronco attack that had scored 21 goals in its first 12 games. On the other hand, the Torero attackers did enough to get past a Bronco defense that had conceded only four goals. USD was the first team to put two past Bronco goalkeeper Kent Harkness in a single game that year. 

The first half was largely a stalemate. Each team put a pair of shots on target, but both goalkeepers were up to the task and the game was scoreless after the first 45 minutes. The second half was a different story. Both the Broncos and Toreros created more scoring chances, and the Toreros capitalized on a pair of them. In the 66th minute, attacking midfielder Michael Caso pounced on a deflected shot in the penalty area, slotting it past Harkness to put the hosts ahead. A quarter of an hour later, the Toreros iced the game. Forward Scott Martin met Eric Pohl’s delivery from a corner kick, heading the ball into the back of the net for San Diego’s second. Torero goalkeeper Lance Friesz only ended up facing three shots all game, and he saved all three to record the shutout.

The victory, USD’s sixth ever against a top-five team, would end up being the high point of the 2004 season. The Toreros lost four of their next five games on their way to finishing the season with only seven wins, ten losses, and three draws. They missed the tournament for the first time since 1997, and would not make another postseason appearance until 2009. 

And for the most part, 2004 was the beginning of the end of the WCC’s time as a soccer powerhouse. After that year, 2009 was the only time four WCC teams have appeared in the same NCAA tournament. The only other time the WCC had three representatives at a tournament was 2018. 

USD earns gutsy win over No. 9 BYU, 3 sets to 2

The University of San Diego rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win the final two sets and send No. 9 Brigham Young University back to Utah with their first loss in 2014 West Coast Conference play in a thrilling installment of a growing rivalry that has defined WCC volleyball for much of the last decade. 

BYU joined the WCC in 2011, and either the Cougars or Toreros have claimed the conference title every year since 2012, even sharing the title in 2017. When these two teams meet on the court, there are almost always championship implications. 

In 2014, San Diego was the defending champ, but BYU had the better record, entering the match with only two losses all year and riding an 11-game winning streak. But in front of the home crowd, the Toreros got off to the better start. A 7-2 scoring run midway through the first set put USD on the front foot, and despite a strong fightback from the Cougars, another strong scoring run led the Toreros to a 25-18 win.

The next two sets, the visiting team earned the results one would expect of the ninth-ranked team in the country. The Cougars held off USD in a closely contested second set, 25-22, to level the score before running away with a 25-17 win in the third set to grab a 2-1 lead. 

But in 2014, the visitors from Utah had never beaten the Toreros in San Diego. And the Toreros had no intention of letting that change. The hosts flew out of the gates in the fourth set, earning a 7-4 lead and putting BYU on the back foot. And while the Cougars recovered to keep the set close, cutting San Diego’s lead to as little as one point, the Toreros never lost the lead, earning a 25-20 win to set up a decisive fifth set. 

With everything on the line and needing only 15 points to get it, the teams traded points early, before redshirt sophomore Lisa Kramer made a huge block to give the Toreros an 8-6 lead. That would be the turning point, as San Diego went on a 7-2 run to win the fifth set easily, and the match with it. 

It was an impressive win, with seniors Alaysia Brown and Jayden Kennedy both recording career highs in kills — 22 and 16, respectively — and senior Jianna Bonomi putting up a double-double, with 26 assists and 14 digs. It also put the Toreros only one game behind the Cougars in the conference standings, meaning the rematch a month later in Utah could have been a title decider. It wasn’t. San Diego couldn’t keep the momentum from this game going, and lost four more games down the stretch to finish in fourth in the conference, while BYU lost only one more game on the way to a conference title. 

For the most part, that has been the pattern of the rivalry between the two schools. BYU swept the Toreros in 2015, winning both matches 3-0 on the way to another title. USD finished second. Despite beating the then-No. 10 Cougars 3-0 in San Diego in 2016, the Toreros lost the rematch in Utah, and finished second behind BYU. The teams split the season series again in 2017, and that time split the title. 

Last year, San Diego finally reclaimed sole possession of the WCC crown, and did so in style, earning their first season sweep of BYU since 2011 — the year the Cougars joined the conference.