Midfielder Stephen McCarthy is one of the newest members of the Santa Clara men's soccer team. The freshman from Colleyville, Texas has played in all seven Bronco games, and was named to the All-Tournament team at the UCI College Classic. McCarthy spoke with SantaClaraBroncos.com about the season thus far.

Since joining the Santa Clara men's soccer team you have started every game, how does it feel to come in as a freshman and start?

It feels pretty good, it's exciting to get out there, to play as a freshman and just try to work as hard as I can to stay in the starting lineup. It's tough because there are a lot of guys who can also play there. I'm just loving it right now.

As a starting midfielder playing alongside two veteran players, what have they taught you to help you transition from high school to collegiate level soccer?

Pete (Lowry) and Erik (Ustruck) are really the reason why I am even playing out there, they help me every practice and every game by telling me what to do. They keep me in shape and on track; both of them have been really helpful with the transition.

So far the team has showed they have great potential and have gotten some good results, but what overall improvements are needed to be implemented to further improve the success of the team this season?

I know, personally, I need to work on stuff in the midfield, but we are always working on our shape and staying organized. Mainly we need to work on our shape, and working on scoring some more goals. If we can improve in those areas, we will be even better.

Are you ready for this weekend, playing two local rivals? Do you have any nerves about competing against conference rival, USF, who were last year's WCC champions?

We should be ready. Practice has gone really well this week, so hopefully we can put it all together this weekend and get two good results.

Now that school is back in session, do you think having a big crowd attendance will benefit the team?

It definitely helps to have the crowd behind you and fans yelling. I haven't experienced it here with the students around, but I am looking forward to it.