SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Bronco men's soccer team (8-8-0, 5-3-0 WCC) will host Saint Mary's (6-7-4, 4-3-2 WCC) in the WCC Men's Soccer Game of the Week on Fri., Nov. 8 at 7:00 p.m. The Broncos will then travel to USF (6-9-2, 3-5-1 WCC) to face the Dons on Sun., Nov. 10 at 1:00 p.m.
"Saint Mary's is very good," said Bronco head coach Cameron Rast. "They haven't gotten all the results they've wanted, they've lost some close battles but they're the kind of team that will never give you an inch and will always look to take the game from you. USF got us last time, that's a game we wish we could get back. We played well enough to win and we just need to execute in that final phase of our attacking. I feel good about the way we've been playing, both games are going to be great match ups and good for us to play to win."
The Broncos are coming off a two-win weekend at Portland and Gonzaga where WCC Player of the Week Carlos Montes knocked in the game-winning goal in both matches. Senior Harrison Hanley leads the Broncos with 12 points for his five goals and two assists and senior co-captains Mark Daus and Phillip Muscarella have been solid for the Broncos anchoring the defense.
"It's good to have seniors that have the experience that Phil and Daus have," continued Rast. "Daus is a four-year starter in the center of our back line, Phil has been solid in our back line for the past three years. I think they are gaining a better understanding of each other as they working together. Phil makes a lot of great plays and Daus is a great organizer. The combination has worked well for us and it's important for us to have consistency and reliability and those two provide that for us."
The Gaels currently sit in third place in the WCC standings, just behind the Broncos, after their 2-0 victory on Wednesday vs. USF. Freshman Alex Braman and junior Michael Semenza knocked in both goals for Saint Mary's. The duo also leads the Gaels in points; Braman (10), Semenza (8).
When the Broncos and Gaels matched up earlier in conference, the Broncos came out with a 2-1 victory with a goal during regulation by Hanley and the overtime game-winner by Edson Cardona.
2013 Season Review Thus Far
Santa Clara is pegged to win the West Coast Conference as voted by WCC head coaches in preseason polls and predicts senior Mark Daus and sophomore Ryan Masch to gain All-WCC team honors.
The Broncos started off slow as they fell in their first four matches against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, then-No. 19 University of Washington, Bay Area rival Stanford and then-No. 9 New Mexico making their record 0-4-0.
The Broncos claimed their first victory against Central Arkansas 2-0 with senior Keigo Kameya picking up his first goal of the season. The second goal was recorded as an own goal.
The Broncos kept the momentum going as they earned two more wins at San Jose State 1-0 with a late goal by sophomore James Huffer, and at UC Irvine 2-1 with a goal by freshman Edson Cardona and a late game-winner by senior Harrison Hanley.
The Broncos fell to then-No. 2 California in overtime to finish up their non-conference play. The Broncos held the top ranked team scoreless for 100 minutes despite the Bear's steady attack.
Senior Carlos Montes picked up the game-winning goal in the 94th min. at San Diego in the team's WCC opener.
In game two and three of WCC play, the Broncos fell 4-0 at LMU and 1-0 in overtime in a hard fought battle vs. USF.
The Broncos immediately bounced back in an exciting 2-1 overtime win at St. Mary's who had so far been undefeated in conference. Hanley notched a goal in regulation for the Broncos and picked up the game-winning assist to Cardona in overtime.
Hanley had another standout performance vs. Gonzaga scoring two goals in the Broncos' 2-1 victory over the Zags.
The Broncos finished the first half of conference falling to the Portland Pilots but didn't go down without a fight. Cardona put away his third goal of the season to get the Broncos up on the board.
To jumpstart the second half of conference, the Broncos traveled to Portland where they defeated the Pilots with an overtime goal by Montes in front of a crowd of 1225. The Broncos then traveled to Spokane where Hanley and Montes knocked in a goal each to give the Broncos the 2-1 victory.
After the weekend, Montes was named WCC Player of the Week.
Live Coverage
Live coverage of the match vs. Saint Mary's can be watched on TheW t.v.
Go Broncos!
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