Santa Clara's Interactive Virtual Guide

SANTA CLARA, Calif.  – Santa Clara University's men's soccer team is off to its best start since 2006 - a year the Broncos opened the season 4-0-1, won the WCC title and advanced into the NCAA tournament's final eight. Having already defeated Stanford and Cal, Santa Clara can take another step towards a complete Bay Area sweep with a win at SJSU on Thursday night. The Broncos will then wrap up non-conference play against perennial NCAA tournament qualifier Harvard on Sunday.

Week #5 - Sept. 19, 2011-Sept. 25
SANTA CLARA (4-1-1) @ SAN JOSE ST. (3-1-2)
Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 • 7 p.m.
Game #7 • Road Game #2 • San Jose, Calif.
Live Stats
HARVARD (2-3)* @ SANTA CLARA
Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011 • 2:30 p.m.#
Game #8 • Home Game #6 • Santa Clara, Calif.
Watch Live

*Harvard will play at Stanford Friday night
#Sunday's game will be the second part of a women's/men's soccer doubleheader at Buck Shaw

WEEKLY NOTES
* Cameron Rast is in his tenth season as Santa Clara head coach (107-54-35)
* SCU is 55-15-20 all-time at home under Rast
* The Broncos are ranked No. 25 nationally by College Soccer News
* SCU is vying to win its second straight WCC Championship
* Sunday's game with Harvard is the second part of a men's and women's soccer doubleheader at Buck Shaw Stadium (the SCU women will play Cal at 12 noon)
* Santa Clara is coming off a 4-2 win at then-No. 14 Cal
* Junior forward Erik Hurtado leads the WCC in most every offensive category and has been named the back-to-back WCC Player of the Week 
* Both SCU and SJSU are regionally-ranked in the NSCAA Far West Poll
* The SCU-SJSU soccer rivalry dates back to 1967, SCU's first year of soccer
* SCU has not lost to SJSU since 2003 and Cam Rast is 5-1-3 all-time vs. the Spartans
* The last meeting at Spartan Stadium resulted in a scoreless tie in 2009
* Four different Bronco players scored en route to matching a season-high four-goal total at No. 14 Cal last Friday
* Harvard has gone to the NCAA tournament in four of the last five years
* SCU and Harvard have only played once, a 2-0 Bronco victory in 2002

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.

GAME PROMOTIONS
For Sunday's home game with Harvard, any child wearing their youth-league soccer jersey receives FREE admission. Following the game, Santa Clara's players will be signing autographs near the north entrance.

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 107-54-35 career record and is 55-15-20 all-time at SCU's Buck Shaw Stadium.

SANTA CLARA
The Broncos are off to a 4-1-1 start, with their only loss coming against No. 11 New Mexico on Sept. 4. Led by senior captain Mykell Bates and seven other final-year players, Santa Clara is aiming to repeat as WCC Champions. The SCU offense saw four different players score in a 4-2 victory at Cal last Friday. All-WCC junior Erik Hurtado scored and assisted in the win and sophomore attacker Carlos Montes had a career-high two assists. All-WCC fifth-year senior Kevin Klasila, who was named the WCC Player of the Week following the Broncos shutout victory over Stanford earlier this season anchors the SCU defense.

SAN JOSE STATE
The Spartans (3-1-2) are ranked tenth regionally by the NSCAA and look to build on a successful road trip to Los Angeles, where they beat WCC preseason favorite Loyola Marymount 2-1 in overtime and tied UC Riverside 1-1. Head coach Gary St. Clair is in his 22nd season leading his alma mater's program, with SJSU returning 16 players from its 7-9-3 team in 2010. This season, St. Clair and his group are looking to improve on their 1-6-3 MPSF conference mark from a year ago.

ALL-TIME SERIES WITH SJSU
With a record of 22-19-4 against neighboring rival San Jose State, Santa Clara controls the all-time series. The teams first met on the pitch in 1967, SCU's first year of men's soccer. The Broncos currently hold bragging rights over the Spartans after Mykell Bates scored the game-winner against SJSU last season, a 2-1 Bronco victory at Buck Shaw.

HARVARD
Harvard (2-3) will enter their two-game Bay Area road trip looking for its first road win Friday night at Stanford. Previous road losses include setbacks at Vermont and St. John's. Harvard will also be looking to improve its offense out West, having scored just three times in their five matches this season. The Crimson had a disappointing 2010 season in which they finished 5-7-5 overall. However, Harvard has historically made the NCAA's, qualifying for the tournament in four of the last five years and making it past Round One in three of those trips.

ALL-TIME SERIES WITH HARVARD
Santa Clara and Harvard faced off for the first time in 2002, and have yet to compete against one-another since. In their opening match against the Crimson, the Broncos came away with a 2-0 win at the USF/Diadora Classic in San Francisco. That match came during SCU head coach Cameron Rast's introductory season (2002).

ERIK HURTADO NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK – AGAIN!
The West Coast Conference has announced its men's soccer Player of the Week award-winner for September 19, 2011 and for the second consecutive time Santa Clara University's Erik Hurtado has earned the honor. Hurtado, who continues to lead the league in most every offensive category, has emerged as an early candidate for the league's Player of the Year. Trailing by a goal against No. 14 California Friday, the junior from Beaverton, Ore. assisted in the Bronco equalizer, then scored the go-ahead goal prior to halftime to propel the Broncos to a 4-2 victory - Santa Clara's first road win in Berkeley since 1980.

IN THE RANKINGS
Santa Clara is ranked No. 25 by College Soccer News, No. 33 by TopDrawerSoccer.com and are just two spots shy of a Top 25 ranking by the NSCAA. Both SCU and SJSU are ranked in the NSCAA Far West Regional Poll.

QUOTABLE
"We are tough and we are proving we can play some soccer," said Cameron Rast, SCU's four-time WCC Coach of the Year, who notched his first win over Cal as a head coach last Friday. "This win is important because we took a big step, a step that we haven't been able to take in the past few years. This separates this group from a lot of groups we have had in the past. This shows that we have the potential to be a special team."

WCC STANDINGS (pts)
Santa Clara 4-1-1 (13)
San Diego 3-3-0 (9)
Portland 2-2-1 (7)
Gonzaga 2-3-0 (6)
LMU 2-4-0 (6)
Saint Mary's 1-2-3 (6)
San Francisco 1-4-1 (4)

Upcoming Games:
Wednesday, Sept. 21
Portland @ Washington 7 p.m. PT
Thursday, Sept. 22
Santa Clara @ San Jose State 7 p.m. PT
Friday, Sept. 23
Gonzaga vs. Cal State Bakersfield (Corvallis, Ore.) 2:30 p.m. PT
Portland vs. UAB (Seattle, Wash.) 4:30 p.m. PT
Loyola Marymount @ New Mexico 6 p.m. PT
San Diego @ UC Santa Barbara 7 p.m. PT
Saturday, Sept. 24
Saint Mary's @ Creighton 5:30 p.m. PT
Sunday, Sept. 25
Loyola Marymount @ Wisconsin 11 a.m. PT
Portland vs. Houston Baptist (Seattle, Wash.) 11 a.m. PT
UMKC vs. Gonzaga (Corvallis, Ore.) 12 p.m. PT
San Jose State @ San Francisco 2 p.m. PT
Harvard @ Santa Clara 2:30 p.m. PT

BRONCOS AND THE MLS
Not only does the San Jose Earthquakes of the MLS rent out Santa Clara's 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.

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?
SCU associate head coach and former All-America goalkeeper for the Broncos, Eric Yamamoto, ranks second in West Coast Conference (WCC) history with 38 career shutouts.

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 55-15-20 at home since he took over as head coach in 2002. The team is 214-80-38 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.

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.

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

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

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
214-81-39 at Buck Shaw Stadium
108-42-25 vs. WCC all-time
31-13-16 vs. WCC in last three seasons