Santa Clara's Interactive Virtual Guide

SANTA CLARA, Calif.  – The Broncos of Santa Clara University look to continue a strong start to their 2011 campaign when they wrap up a five-game season-opening homestand this weekend at Buck Shaw Stadium. SCU will face Nebraska-Omaha Friday night at 7 p.m. and Cleveland State Sunday at 2 p.m. (the second part of a men's and women's soccer doubleheader).

Week #3 - Sept. 5, 2011-Sept. 11
NEBRASKA-OMAHA (1-2) @ SANTA CLARA (1-1-1)
Friday, Sept. 9, 2011 • 7 p.m.
CLEVELAND STATE (1-1)* @ SANTA CLARA
Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 • 2 p.m.
Games #4/5 • Home Games #4/5 • Santa Clara, Calif.
Watch Live

*Cleveland State will play at San Jose State Friday night

WEEKEND NOTES
* Cameron Rast is in his tenth season as Santa Clara head coach (104-54-35)
* SCU is 53-15-20 all-time at home under Rast
* The Broncos are ranked No. 8 in the latest NSCAA Far West Regional poll
* SCU is wrapping-up a five-game homestand to open the year
* The games are part of a home-and-home tournament with San Jose State (both UNO and CSU will also play at SJSU)
* Sunday's game with Cleveland State is the second part of a men's and women's soccer doubleheader at Buck Shaw Stadium (the SCU women will play No. 8 Notre Dame at 11:30 a.m.)
* SCU has beaten Stanford and tied then-No. 6/13 UCLA this season
* Junior forward Erik Hurtado scored vs. UCLA and matched a career-high with five shots against New Mexico, his seven shots last weekend led the team
* Defender Mykell Bates has been ranked as the No. 8 pro prospect among college seniors
* This is the first-ever season of men's soccer at Nebraska-Omaha
* UNO has lost its last two games after beating UMKC in its opener 2-1
* CSU won on the road at Bowling Green following a season-opening loss to No. 1 Akron
* Eric Masch scored twice to help SCU beat Cleveland State 3-2 at Irvine in Sept. 2009

LIVE VIDEO BROADCAST - FREE!
Fans can watch every Santa Clara soccer home game online for FREE via SantaClaraBroncos.com with Live Scoring complementing the broadcast on the Broncos' all-access portal courtesy of StretchInternet. 

TICKETS
Tickets are available for purchase online at SantaClaraBroncos.com/buytickets or by calling the ticket office directly at 408-554-4660. Season tickets start at just $25 for youth/seniors and $50 for adults.  For the best value, purchase a Family Plan for $100. The Family Plan includes two adult and three youth tickets to each and every home game. Single-game tickets start at $5 for youth/seniors and $8 for adults.

HEAD COACH CAMERON RAST (10th-year)
Since taking over the Bronco men's soccer program nine years ago, SCU alumnus and Hall of Famer Cameron Rast has led his alma mater to six NCAA tournaments and four West Coast Conference Championships. He was a former All-America player on SCU's 1989 co-National Championship team and U.S. Olympic Team captain in 1992. He spent eight seasons as an assistant coach at SCU from 1994-2001. Last year, in 2010, his ninth year as SCU head coach, the Broncos won the WCC title. Rast has reached the 100-win milestone as a head coach and has moved into third place all-time in WCC coaching victories. The announcement of Rast being named the 2010 WCC 'Coach of the Year' marked the fourth time he has earned the honor. The Broncos advanced into the NCAA College Cup Final Four in 2006. He owns a 104-54-35 career record and is 53-15-20 all-time at SCU's Buck Shaw Stadium.

SANTA CLARA
Santa Clara (1-1-1) was off to an ideal start to the season, beating Stanford in the opener and playing then-No. 6/13 UCLA to draw. However the Broncos came out flat in last Sunday's game with regionally-ranked New Mexico and eventually allowed a pair of second half goals to sufer their first loss of the year. Despite an injury to co-captain Murphy Campbell, who is expected to miss the remainder of the season, SCU benefits from an experienced and proven group. Santa Clara has eight seniors on its active roster and 10 of its 11 starters from its WCC Championship team of 2010 are available to play this weekend. Senior Mykell Bates and junior Erik Hurtado are two of the best players in the WCC and Eric Masch, Brandon Zimmerman, Keigo Kameya, Mark Daus and goalkeeper Kevin Klasila have all been distinguished as all-league honorees. 

NEBRASKA-OMAHA
In the school's first year of men's soccer history, head coach Jason Mims fields a team that has 15 freshmen on its 20-man roster. Additionally, 15 of the team's 20 players are from Omaha. The Mavericks (1-2) have been outscored 10-0 over their last two matches, losing at home to No. 9 UC Irvine 4-0 and at IPFW 6-0. Notably, the Mavericks won their first-ever game, opening the season with a 2-1 triumph over UMKC on the road. UNO will play 13 games this season and just three home games overall.

ALL-TIME VERSUS UNO
Due to the fact Nebraska-Omaha's men's soccer team is in its first year of existence, SCU and UNO have never met.

CLEVELAND STATE
The Vikings (1-1) will play at San Jose State Friday prior to facing Santa Clara. They opened the season against the nation's top team, Akron, losing 5-0 before bouncing back to defeat Bowling Green 2-1. Cleveland State's 2010 team finished 9-10-1. After a pair of games on the west coast, Cleveland State will travel back across the country and do battle with Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Wednesday (Sept. 14) at 7 p.m. Next Sunday (Sept. 18), the Vikings will host Robert Morris in their home opener after five straight road games to start the season.

ALL-TIME VERSUS CSU
Santa Clara holds the all-time series lead with a record of 3-0 against Cleveland State. In the three matches, the Broncos have tallied ten goals, in comparison to the Vikings two. After being held scoreless by Santa Clara in the teams' first two meetings, the Vikings scored a pair of goals in 2009, but the scoreboard read 3-2 SCU. Eric Masch scored twice for the Broncos in that victory, a game played at UC Irvine.

BRONCOS AND THE MLS
Not only does the San Jose Earthquakes of the MLS rent out Santa Clara's Leavey Center and Buck Shaw Stadium to call home, the Broncos have had a storied history of future professionals wearing the SCU uniform. SCU was ranked among the top NCAA programs producing MLS talent, according to MLSsoccer.com. Santa Clara is tied for second all-time among schools on the West Coast, producing 17 players who have been drafted by MLS clubs, including Mehdi Ballouchy drafted second overall in 2006.

MYKELL BATES NO. 8 PRO PROSPECT AMONG COLLEGE SENIORS
Santa Clara senior co-captain Mykell Bates was listed as the nation's No. 8 best pro prospect among college seniors according to TopDrawerSoccer.com. The online publication is showcasing Joe Mauceri's observations on 'Joe's Big Board', a listing of the top 100 prospects for professional soccer in the college senior class.

2011 WCC Men's Soccer Standings (Pts)
Saint Mary's 1-0-1 (4)
Santa Clara 1-1-1 (4)
Portland 1-1-1 (4)
Gonzaga 1-2-0 (3)
LMU 1-2-0 (3)
San Diego 1-2-0 (3)
San Francisco 0-3-0 (0)

Friday, Sept. 9
Portland vs. Northwestern (DeKalb, Ill.) 12:30 p.m. PT
UC Riverside @ Loyola Marymount 3 p.m. PT
Nebraska-Omaha @ Santa Clara 7 p.m. PT
Penn @ San Diego 7 p.m. PT
Saint Mary's @ UCLA 7 p.m. PT
San Francisco @ UNLV 7:30 p.m. PT
Sunday, Sept. 11
Portland @ Northern Illinois 9 a.m. PT
San Francisco @ Cal State Fullerton 10:30 a.m. PT
Cleveland State @ Santa Clara 2 p.m. PT
Manhattan @ San Diego 2 p.m. PT
Saint Mary's @ UC Riverside 2 p.m. PT
Loyola Marymount @ UCLA 7 p.m. PT

KLASILA NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Santa Clara senior goalkeeper Kevin Klasila was the first West Coast Conference men's soccer Player of the Week for the 2011 season. Klasila made a game-saving stop in the closing moments of Santa Clara's 1-0 season-opening victory over Stanford Aug. 27. It was one of three saves on the night for Klasila, a two-time All-WCC honorable mention selection.

IN THE RANKINGS
Santa Clara has been ranked as high as No. 24 nationally by TopDrawerSoccer.com this season. The Broncos are No. 8 in the latest NSCAA Far West Regional Rankings.

BATES, HURTADO NAMED 2011 PRESEASON ALL-WCC
Mykell Bates and Erik Hurtado were among ten student-athletes around the league named to the 2011 Preseason All-West Coast Conference Team. Hurtado has emerged as one of the nation's most dangerous scorers. The junior from Beaverton, Ore., was named a 2010 All-WCC First Team player and garnered National Player of the Week honors last November by College Soccer News (CSN). Bates was also named an All-WCC First Team honoree in 2010. The senior and three-year starting defender from Roseville, Calif., led the team in minutes played (1,852) as a sophomore and is serving as team captain for the second straight year.

2011 Preseason All-West Coast Conference Team
Name School Yr, Pos.
Mykell Bates SCU SR D
Roger Downes LMU SR D
Steven Evans POR SO MF
Doug Herrick SMC SR GK
Erik Hurtado SCU JR F
Artur Jozkowicz LMU SR F/MF
Ryan Kawulok POR SR D
James Matern GON RSO MF
Stephen Posa USD SR F
Patrick Wallen USD SR F

ERIC MASCH TABBED FOR LOWE'S SENIOR CLASS AWARD
Santa Clara University final-year student-athlete Eric Masch has been selected as candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award recognizes the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. From the list of 30 candidates, a national media committee will select ten finalists for the 2011 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award in early October.

DID YOU KNOW?
Santa Clara has won 22 NCAA College Cup tournament matches.

FINAL WCC STANDINGS (2010)
Place Team WCC Record (Points)/Overall Record
T1. Santa Clara* 7-1-4 (25)/10-6-5
T1. LMU 8-3-1 (25)/12-6-2
3. Portland 6-3-3 (21)/9-4-6
4. San Diego 6-4-2 (20)/9-7-3
5. St. Mary's 6-6-0 (18)/10-8-1
6. San Francisco 2-8-2 (8)/4-12-3
7. Gonzaga 1-11-0 (3)/4-15-0

*Santa Clara claimed tiebreaker and WCC's automatic NCAA Tournament berth

BRONCOS PICKED TO FINISH THIRD IN WCC
Despite returning all 11 of its starters from its 2010 WCC Championship squad, the Broncos were picked to finish third as a team in the league's preseason poll.

2011 West Coast Conference Preseason Poll
Team (First Place Votes) Points
1. Loyola Marymount (6) 36
2. San Diego 27
3. Santa Clara 26
4. Portland 21
5. Saint Mary's (1) 19
6T. Gonzaga 9
6T. San Francisco 9

2011 PRESEASON AT US OLYMPIC TRAINING CENTER
Shortly after initiating its preseason training for the 2011 season, the Broncos traveled to Southern California for a week to practice at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

FROM THE CAPTAINS
The Broncos have named Mykell Bates and Murphy Campbell team co-captains. The two seniors lead a group that is trying to repeat as West Coast Conference Champions and make a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

"This year we are going to build off the success we had last season," said Bates, who is one of nine returning All-WCC players on the 2011 roster. "Our ultimate goal is make an appearance in the College Cup in Alabama."

PLAYING UP
The Broncos are facing one of their toughest pre-conference tests in recent memory. Both UCLA and California advanced into the NCAA College Cup tournament's final eight last year, while New Mexico, Harvard and Stanford have been perennial NCAA qualifiers.

HOME SUCCESS
Contributing to the Broncos' strong soccer tradition is the team's home field advantage at Buck Shaw Stadium. Under Rast, the Broncos have gone 53-15-20 at home since he took over as head coach in 2002. The team is 212-80-38 all-time when playing at home, dating back to the program's first year of soccer in 1967.

THE WCC'S BEST TEAM (2010 CHAMPIONS)
The Broncos won the 2010 WCC Championship by posting a 7-1-4 conference record. No other WCC program has won more games (125) over the past decade or more WCC titles (5) than Santa Clara. Rast has been honored as the league's 'Coach of the Year' four times in his nine seasons and in the past three years, SCU is 31-13-16 against league opponents.

SCU SOCCER TRADITION
1 National Championship
5 College Cup Final Fours
19 NCAA Tournaments
52 Future Professionals
11 WCC Championships
8 Seasons of 15+ wins
4 Teams ranked No. 1 nationally
13 Teams ranked in top 5 nationally
212-81-39 at Buck Shaw Stadium
108-42-25 vs. WCC all-time
31-13-16 vs. WCC in last three seasons