Nov. 16, 2006

Next Up For Bronco Men's Soccer
After defeating Washington Wednesday night, the Santa Clara men's soccer team travels to Bloomington, Ind. for a match-up against the seventh-seeded Indiana Hoosiers, who defeated Northern Illinois 1-0 in the second round. The game kicks off from Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium at 4:00 p.m. PT. The teams have met five times in NCAA Tournament play with Indiana holding a 3-2 edge in the postseason series. Both teams are hot as Indiana is 9-1-1 in their last 11 games and SCU is 8-1-2 in their last 11.

Last Game For Bronco Men's Soccer
The Broncos pulled out an overtime 3-2 win over the Washington Huskies at Buck Shaw Stadium on Wednesday night. Jide Ogunbiyi scored five minutes into overtime to give the Broncos the win over their Pac-10 rival. Erik Ustruck and Brian Martin also netted goals for Santa Clara. The Broncos led the game 2-0 before Washington struck back for two late goals to tie the score and send the game to overtime. Ogunbiyi then headed in the overtime winner.

Head Coach Cameron Rast
Cameron Rast (Santa Clara '92) is in his fifth season at the helm of the Santa Clara men's soccer program and has a 67-26-12 (.695) overall record and a 30-14-4 (.667) mark in West Coast Conference matches. He has led the Broncos to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four seasons and his 2003 team advanced to the NCAA College Cup, where it lost a double-overtime decision to eventual national champion Indiana. He has now led the team to two WCC titles after clinching the 2006 championship on Oct. 29. Rast has also won two WCC Coach of the Year awards (2003, 2006). After eight years as an assistant coach and four as a player, Rast has now reached the College Cup in three different capacities while at Santa Clara. He is already in the top-10 on the WCC career list for league wins. Rast is assisted by Eric Yamamoto, Rusty Johnson and Tim Martin.

NCAA Tournament
The Broncos have qualified for the NCAA Tournament 17 times including this season. They have appeared in five College Cups and won the national title in 1989. Overall, SCU has a 22-13-5 record in the tournament and are 11-2-1 at home. Last season, the Broncos defeated Ohio State 1-0 before falling to California on penalty kicks in the second round. This is the team's fourth consecutive appearance.

NCAA Records
Shawn Percell (1996-99) holds the program record for tournament goals with five in his career. Current head coach Cameron Rast (1988-91) is tied with Kyle Smith (1997-99) for second with four goals apiece. Jeff Baicher (1989-90) and Sean-Michael Callahan (1996-99) are tied for first in assists with four, while Percell leads in points (12). Current goalkeeper coach Rusty Johnson holds the record for most saves in tournament play as he made 19 saves in his career from 1998-99. Kevin Sweeney now holds the record for goals against average after posting two shutouts last season, leaving him with a 0.00 GAA.

Ogunbiyi The Hero
Forward Jide Ogunbiyi scored the winning goal in overtime Wednesday night to send SCU through to the third round. The goal was just the second of the year for Ogunbiyi, who was hampered by an ankle injury early on in the season. Ogunbiyi is no stranger to scoring overtime winners, as he scored an overtime goal to beat Stanford in 2005.

As a Frosh and a Senior
Senior Erik Ustruck scored a goal Wednesday night to get the Broncos started in their win over Washington. The goal was his first in postseason play since his freshman season in 2003 when he scored against Michigan to help the Broncos earn a 3-1 win in the Regional Final.

Broncos vs. Indiana
Santa Clara and Indiana have a long history in the NCAA Tournament. In 1989 and 1991, the Broncos beat the Hoosiers in the national semifinals to advance to the championship game. The Broncos won 4-2 in 1989 and 2-0 in 1991. Current Broncos head coach Cameron Rast scored in both of those matches, while current assistant coach Eric Yamamoto was the goalkeeper for the 1989 squad. However, Indiana has won the past three games between the teams, earning a 4-0 win in the national semifinals in 1998 and a 1-0 win in the championship game in 1999. In Rast's second season at SCU, the team lost to Indiana 1-0 in overtime in the Final Four. Both Keith DeVey and Erik Ustruck played for the Broncos in that match. Current SCU goalkeeper coach Rusty Johnson was the goalkeeper for the Broncos in 1999.

Indiana in 2006
The Hoosiers have had another strong season in 2006, winning the Big Ten Championship and posting a 14-4-2 record prior to the NCAA Tournament. The team has played nine overtime games in 2006 and has put up a 6-1-2 record in those matches. IU is currently on a good run with a 9-1-1 record in its past 11 matches. Brian Ackley and Darren Yeagle led the team with seven goals apiece while goalkeeper Chay Cain has nine shutouts and a 0.61 goals against average. The Hoosiers head coach is Mike Freitag, who, like Rast at SCU, is a former player and assistant coach at Indiana.

Martin and Ogunbiyi Clutch
Both Brian Martin and Jide Ogunbiyi notched a goal and an assist against Washington. The goals were the first postseason goals for both players. The pair are now tied for the team lead in assists with five each.

McCarthy's First Assist
Co-WCC Freshman of the Year Stephen McCarthy picked a good time to earn his first assist of the season. McCarthy got a pass from Keith DeVey and dropped it back for Brian Martin, who blasted home the Broncos second goal of the night against Washington on Wednesday. McCarthy has been a mainstay throughout the year in the mdifield, starting 20 out of 21 games. He was also named All-WCC Honorable Mention in 2006.

No Stranger To Extra Time
The Santa Clara men's soccer program knows all about overtime in the NCAA Tournament. SCU has played at least one overtime game in every postseason appearance since 1999. SCU had lost three straight overtime games in the tournament prior to Wednesday night, falling to California in 2005 on penalty kicks and losing 2-1 in 2004. In 2003, Indiana beat Santa Clara 1-0 in overtime. In 2003, SCU had four of their five tournament games go to the extra session, winning once on penalty kicks (4-1 vs. SMU) and beating Loyola Marymount (1-0) and Coastal Carolina (3-2), before the loss to Indiana. Overall, 17 of the Broncos 40 postseason matches have needed overtime to determine a winner.

Unbeaten Streak Snapped
The Santa Clara Broncos pushed their unbeaten streak to nine games with a 3-0 win over Portland on Nov. 3. However, the unbeaten run was snapped on Nov. 5 as the Gonzaga Bulldogs pulled out a 2-1 overtime victory in the season finale. George Josten scored the winning goal in overtime to end the Broncos run. The nine-game unbeaten run was the longest unbeaten streak since 1999 when the Broncos won 11 in a row to start the season. While the unbeaten run is over, the Broncos are still 8-1-2 in their past 11 games.

Unbeaten on the Road
The Broncos swept two road games Oct. 27 and 29 at San Diego and Loyola Marymount to finish their conference road schedule. SCU posted a 5-0-1 record on the road in conference, its first unbeaten run on the road in conference since 2001 when they went 3-0-0. Since the introduction of the double round robin format in 2004, SCU had not lost fewer than three games on the road in conference play.

WCC Leaders
Cameron Rast's squad had a number of individuals among the WCC's league leaders in the regular season. Senior Keith DeVey and Amaechi Igwe tied for eighth in points with 13, while DeVey tied for sixth in goals with six. Junior Peter Lowry and Igwe tied for ninth with five goals each. Sophomores Brian Martin and Jide Ogunbiyi tied for eighth with four assists. Goalkeeper Joseph Buttita now led the league in shutouts with seven and goals against average (0.79).

Broncos as a Team
As a team, the Broncos finished near the top of the ladder in a number of statistical categories. The Broncos finished third in goals (32), first in shutouts (8), while placing first in corner kicks with 145. SCU's corner kick total was 49 higher than the next closest team. The team allowed only 18 goals on the year, the second lowest total among conference teams. Their 0.86 goals against average was tops in the conference. The Broncos also had the second highest home attendance in the league with an average of 1,178 fans through seven home dates.

DeVey Among Top Scorers
Keith DeVey netted his sixth goal of 2006 against Portland on Nov. 3 and the 20th of his career. The Kula, Hawaii resident is now tied for eighth all-time in Bronco history for goals. He is tied with Steve Robertson. With one more goal, he would jump into a tie for seventh in school history.

Rast Moves Into Third
Cameron Rast has now passed former Bronco coach Steve Sampson and moved into third place all-time in wins at SCU. He now has 67 wins. Steve Sampson earned 64 wins from 1986-90 on the Mission Campus. The all-time leader is Mitch Murray (1991-2001), who has 143 victories followed by Dave Chaplik with 92. Rast is the second-fastest coach in school history to reach the 50-win plateau, just behind Murray.

Buttitta Player of the Month
Sophomore goalkeeper Joseph Buttitta continues to impress in his first year as the starting goalkeeper for SCU. He finished the regular season with a 0.79 goals against average and seven shutouts. He was named the WCC Player of the Month for October for his stellar play.

Tight Games
The Broncos have had 15 of their 21 games decided by one goal or end in ties in 2006.

Lowry Up Top, DeVey In Middle
Junior captain Peter Lowry has moved from his role of central midfield into the forward line for the past month, while Keith DeVey has slid into the role of attacking midfielder. The results have been positive as SCU has lost just once with that formation, while posting a 8-1-2 record.

Lineup Consistency
Despite a number of injuries and a tough schedule, Santa Clara has had great consistency in its starting lineup. Through 21 games in 2006, seven players have started every game; Joseph Buttita, Matt Marquess, Jamil Roberts, Peter Lowry, Erik Ustruck, Brian Martin and Keith DeVey. Amaechi Igwe has started 18 out of 21 games this year, while Stephen McCarthy has started 20 out of 21.

Balanced Attack
The Broncos attack has been very balanced in 2006 as 13 different players have scored goals and 15 different players have notched at least one point.

Iron Man
Broncos defender Matt Marquess has proven to be a rock on the back-line for SCU the past two seasons. After appearing in all 20 regular season games this year, Marquess has now played in 42 consecutive games for SCU. This season, he has started all 21 games and played 1,942 of a possible 1,977:44 minutes. Jamil Roberts, who has also started every match, leads the team in minutes with 1,952 minutes played. The pair has started every game together in central defense.

Ustruck And DeVey - Last Ties to College Cup
In 2003, Cameron Rast led the Broncos to the College Cup in just his second season as head coach. Two members of that team remain as SCU attempts to make a return trip to the Final Four. Erik Ustruck was a freshman on that 2003 team, while Keith DeVey was a redshirt freshman. That team lost to Indiana in double overtime in the semifinals.

NCAA Goals
Coming into the 2006 postseason, three current Broncos had scored goals in the NCAA Tournament in their careers. Erik Ustruck scored a goal as a freshman in 2003 against Michigan in the Regional Final to help SCU advance to the College Cup. Keith DeVey scored a first half goal against Cal in 2004 in a first-round overtime loss. Also, Peter Lowry scored on a free kick against Ohio State in the first round last year at Buck Shaw on Nov. 15 to give SCU a 1-0 win.

NCAA Experience
Entering this year's College Cup, Santa Clara had nine players with NCAA Tournament experience led by Erik Ustrcuk with eight NCAA games under his belt and Keith DeVey with six. Overall, the team had 31 games of NCAA experience. Brian Curry (3), Matt Hatzke (3), Peter Lowry (3), Matt Marquess (2), Jide Ogunbiyi (2), Jamil Roberts (3) and Scott Sweeney (1) had all played in the tournament.

Home Sweet Home
Buck Shaw Stadium has provided an excellent home-field advantage for the Broncos over the years. They have posted a 194-72-25 record good for an incredible .710 winning percentage. The team has lost only six home games in Rast's tenure at SCU.