Sept. 13, 2000
Thursday, Sept. 14 * vs. Oregon State * 5:00
Saturday, Sept. 16 * at Washington * 2:15
This Week's Schedule
Santa Clara travels to Seattle this week to face two Pacific-10 Conference opponents in the Nike Northwest Soccer Challenge, hosted by the University of Washington. The Broncos play Oregon State on Thursday at 5 p.m. On Saturday, SCU takes-on host Washington at 2:15. All matches will be played on UW's Husky Soccer Stadium (1,500). For ticket information, contact the Washington athletic ticket office at 206/543-2200.
Head Coach Mitch Murray
Mitch Murray (San Francisco State '77) is in his 10th season as the head coach at Santa Clara and his 16th season as part of the Bronco program. He is the winningest coach in school history with a 123-43-17 (.716) overall mark while at SCU. Murray has guided the Broncos to seven NCAA Tournament appearances, including two trips to the NCAA finals in 1991 and 1999. He has coached nine players to All-America honors, recorded nine consecutive seasons in the national rankings and earned four West Coast Conference championships. Prior to taking over the head coaching duties in 1991, Murray spent five seasons as an assistant coach on the Broncos staff under former U.S. National Team head coach Steve Sampson.
Broncos in the Polls
Santa Clara is currently ranked 18th in the NCAA Media Poll and 24th by Soccer Times. The Broncos opened the season ranked second in the NSCAA / adidas preseason poll. Soccer America magazine ranked SCU 16th in the preseason. The rankings mark the 13th straight season Santa Clara has appeared in the national polls.
Oregon State
Oregon State is 3-1 on the season with only a 1-0 loss to Illinois-Chicago blemishing its record ... Santa Clara and OSU have played just once in history with the match ending in a scoreless tie in 1995 ... OSU head coach Dana Taylor is 8-13-0 in his second season at Corvallis ... SCU and OSU have one common opponent this season ... The Broncos dropped a 2-1 overtime decision at Sacramento State, while Oregon State defeated the Hornets by a 3-0 score at home last weekend ... OSU also has wins at Tulsa (2-1) and at Oral Roberts (3-0) on its record this season.
Washington
Washington is 2-2 on the season, but has won its last two contests by identical 3-0 scores ... the Huskies defeated San Diego State and Akron last weekend in a tournament at Portland ... Washington dropped matches to nationally-ranked Creighton (2-0) and Southwest Missouri State (3-0) to open the season ... The Nike Northwest Challenge is the first home action of the season for UW ... Thursday's matches will feature the first-ever night contests for UW with the addition of lights at Husky Stadium ... Santa Clara owns the series lead against UW by a 7-4-1 margin ... UW won the last meeting between the two teams with a 3-0 win in 1997 ... UW's first-ever full-time men's soccer coach, Dean Wurzberger, was an assistant coach at Santa Clara and helped lead the Broncos to the NCAA Finals in 1991.
Going Home
Santa Clara has four players who claim the state of Washington as their home and a fifth who recently lived in the state. Joe and Nick Ascolese are from Chattaroy, Washington, while Jeff Stewart and Phil Johnson are from Bellevue. Goalkeeper Rusty Johnson also lived in Chattaroy for a time before moving to Illinois. Rusty Johnson (no relation to Phil) and the Ascolese brothers became friends during their time together in Chattaroy.
Team Captains
Senior midfielders Joe Ascolese and Jeff Stewart were named team captains prior to the season. Ascolese missed last year due to a foot injury and is back for his fifth-year at Santa Clara. Stewart was a big part of the team's postseason run to the NCAA Finals a year ago in the Men's College Cup.
A Quick Look Back
Last week the Broncos rebounded from their season-opening loss at CSU Sacramento by winning the San Francisco diadora championship for the third-straight year. SCU shutout a scrappy Alabama A&M squad 1-0 in the event's first match and knocked-off a physical Cal Poly squad by a 2-1 margin in the championship match. Sophomore transfer Jamil Walker was named the event's MVP after scoring a goal in each game.
Brotherly Love - West Coast Style
The SCU men's soccer team has two sets of brothers on its team: Joe and Nick Ascolese (Chattaroy, Wash.) and Jamil and Rahim Walker (Rochester, N.Y.). However, both sets of brothers didn't necessarily have the initial intention of playing together at SCU. Joe Ascolese, a fifth-year senior, would have completed his eligibility last season had he not suffered a season-ending foot injury during the preseason. His brother, Nick, is an incoming freshman. Sophomore Jamil Walker spent last season at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. His brother, Nick, is an incoming freshman on the squad. In a related (no pun intended) matter, Jeff Stewart's father, Doug, received his MBA at Santa Clara.
Caribbean Connection
Three current Bronco players were born in Jamaica: Jamil and Rahim Walker and Akil Foderingham. In addition, all three players came to SCU from the East Coast. The Walker brothers were born in Jamaica and moved to the U.S. as children. Both parents played club soccer in their youth and encouraged their three sons to play. Foderingham, a freshman midfielder, he was born in Kingston, Jamaica and lived in Trinidad & Tobago prior to moving to the United States. His father is a doctor and moved to the U.S. for his residency and practice. Foderingham's travelling experience came in handy for his over-2,700 mile trek from Roanoke to Santa Clara.
Transfers Abound
The Broncos feature four players on this year's squad that transferred to Santa Clara from other four-year institutions: Tony Cota (Saint Mary's College), Kirk Fonseca (San Diego State), Kevin Mehrens (UC Irvine) and Jamil Walker (Air Force). Cota started 12 matches as a sophomore for Saint Mary's last season. He scored three goals and recorded three assists in his career with the Gaels. Mehrens started the CSU Sacramento contest in the season-opener for the Broncos. Walker scored a goal in each of the first three matches for the Broncos this season and capped-off his first career start against Cal Poly with MVP honors at the diadora Classic.
Quiet Assassin
With all of the talk surrounding the departure of five of the top six scorers from last year's NCAA finalist squad, it is easy to miss the fact that SCU returns its top scorer from a year ago. Adam Chimienti (San Jose, Calif.) started only one match for the Broncos in 1999, but scored a team-high 23 points on nine goals and five assists. Characterized as quiet and understated, the Leland H.S. grad is also described as very efficient on the field.
2000 WCC Standings
(As of Sept. 12)
Team WCC Overall Portland 0 0 0 3 0 1 San Diego 0 0 0 3 0 0 Santa Clara 0 0 0 2 1 0 Loyola Marymount 0 0 0 3 1 0 San Francisco 0 0 0 2 1 2 Gonzaga 0 0 0 2 2 0 St. Mary's 0 0 0 1 3 0
NSCAA / adidas Top-25
(Sept. 11)
1. UCLA 14. Bradley
2. Penn State 15. Furman
3. SW Missouri St. 16. Fairfield
4. Connecticut 17. Virginia
5. Wake Forest 18. Pittsburgh
6. Indiana 19. Akron
7. CS Fullerton 20. Brown
8. St. John's 21. Cornell
9. Va. Commonwealth 22. SMU
t10. Creighton 23. Maryland
t10. South Carolina 24. San Jose State
12. Portland 25. North Carolina
13. Georgetown
NCAA Men's Soccer Media Poll
(Sept. 11)
1. UCLA 11. SW Missouri St.
2. Connecticut 12. Duke
3. Indiana 13. CS Fullerton
4. Penn State 14. South Carolina
5. Furman 15. Stanford
6. Portland 16. Creighton
7. Wake Forest 17. Brown
8. St. John's 18. Santa Clara
9. Saint Louis 19. Maryland
10. Virginia 20. UAB
Soccer America Top-20
(As of Sept. 11)
1. UCLA 11. Virginia
2. Connecticut 12. SW Missouri St.
3. Portland 13. CS Fullerton
4. Penn State 14. Indiana
5. Wake Forest 15. North Carolina
6. Furman 16. George Mason
7. St. John's 17. Brown
8. Duke 18. South Carolina
9. Stanford 19. Creighton
10. Clemson 20. Pittsburgh
2000 Bronco Superlatives
Record when scoring first 2-1-0 Record when opponent scores first 0-0-0 Record when leading at halftime 1-0-0 Record when trailing at halftime 0-0-0 Record when tied at halftime 1-1-0 Record in one-goal games 2-1-0 Record in overtime 0-1-0Day Record 2-0-0 Night Record 0-1-0
Record by day of the week:
Monday 0-0-0 Tuesday 0-0-0 Wednesday 0-0-0 Thursday 0-0-0 Friday 1-1-0 Saturday 0-0-0 Sunday 1-0-0
