SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's soccer looks to bounce back from the weekend defeat when they host crosstown rival San Francisco in a midweek West Coast Conference tilt on Wednesday night at Stevens Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. The Broncos are coming off a
2-0 loss at Portland on Saturday which snapped their four-match win streak on the road.
Santa Clara (7-5-1, 1-2 WCC) is 3-3-1 at home this season and face a struggling San Francisco (2-10, 0-3 WCC) squad thats winless on the road with an 0-8 record.
THE DONS (2-10-1, 0-3 WCC)
San Francisco is led by first-year head coach Leonard Griffin who took over from Eddie Soto. Soto resigned after five seasons at The Hilltop to become the head coach for Cal State Dominguez Hills.
In last Saturday's match against No. 13 Saint Mary's, the Dons held the high-powered Gaels offense to just one goal but lost 1-0, extending their winless streak to eight matches. On the season, the Dons average 0.62 goals a game while giving up 2.46 goals a contest compared to 1.62/0.83 split for the Broncos.
A trio of players - Ashish Chattha, Shayan Charalaghi and Jonah Van Der Werf - leads the team with two goals each and have accounted for 75% of the Dons goals this season. Chattha and Charalghi each have an assist to lead the team with five points each.
Goalkeeper Ruben Stuiver has started in all 11 matches he's appeared in posting a 2.77 goals-against-average with a .659 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY
San Francisco leads the series 36-26-10. The Dons won last season's matchup at Negoesco Stadium, 3-1, but the Broncos won the year before that in 2017 at home by the same score.
THE BRONCOS (7-5-1, 1-2 WCC)
Badenes Mecho already has four clean sheets to his credit as defensively, the Broncos have kept the opposition under a single goal in all but two matches this season.
The 2019 campaign marks the 18th season at the helm for Santa Clara head coach Cam Rast who leads a squad that returns 23 players including three All-West Coast Conference honorees from a team that finished 5-10-2.
Nineteen of the returners saw action last season with 13 of them appearing in double digit matches to account for 80 percent of its goals and all of its assists.
Junior
Javier Ruiz Duran led the team in goals (six) and assists (five) to earn All-WCC Second Team recognition along with senior
Miles Robinson who scored four and assisted on three. Sophomore
Eduardo Lopez Perez tallied a pair of goals and was named to the WCC All-Freshman team.
Redshirt junior
Henning Jolivet brings the most experience between the woodwork playing in seven matches last season to finish with a 3-3-1 record and a 1.89 goals against average.
NOTES
1989 National Championship - 30th Anniversary
• Santa Clara men's soccer celebrated their 30th anniversary of the 1989 National Championship this season. Members of the 1989 squad was recognized during halftime of the Oct. 12 match against Saint Mary's during Grand Reunion weekend. Current coaches Cam Rast and Eric Yamamoto were on the 1989 championship squad (video courtesy WCC).
Live Stream
• All Bronco home matches and West Coast Conference road matches are streamed live on the WCC Network with David Gentile doing the play-by-play for the home matches.
Broncos Team Information
• Twenty-three players return from the 2018 squad that finished with an overall record of 5-10-2 (1-5-1 in the West Coast Conference).
• Nineteen players with playing experience return including 13 who played 10 or more games last season.
• Only one scorer lost to graduation: Andres Jimenez (5 goals).
• Two captains lost to graduation: goalkeeper Dakota Havlick and midfielder Brandon Gillingham.
Class Breakdown
Across the Globe
• The Bronco roster fields a squad composed of player hometowns from eight states and five countries.
o States: California, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington
o Countries: Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain, United States
All-West Coast Conference
United Soccer Coaches All-West Region
2019 Exhibition Matches
• Freshman goalkeeper
Guillem Badenes Mecho played in 135 of 180 minutes including starting the Sacramento State game.
Season Openers
• With the win against Holy Cross, Broncos head coach Cam Rast is 10-8 including 5-4 at home in season openers.
Firsts
Goals
• Senior
Sam Agosti and sophomore
Martin Aasen tallied their first goals as a Bronco in the season opener (Aug. 30) against Holy Cross.
• Junior
Terrell Smith scored his first career goal against San Diego State (Sept. 14).
• Junior
Isaac Addai scored his first career goal against Lipscomb (Sept. 27).
• Sophomore
Alejandro Barajas scored his first career goal against Evansville (Sept. 29).
Assists
• Redshirt sophomore
Presten Manthey had his first career assists (two) against San Jose State (Sept. 6).
• Sophomore
Sakari Carter had his first career assist against San Diego State (Sept. 14).
• Sophomore
Alejandro Perez recorded his first career assist against Lipscomb (Sept. 27).
• Sophomore
Emil Christensen recorded his first career assist against Evansville (Sept. 29).
Starts
• Redshirt freshman
Presten Manthey made his first Bronco start against San Jose State (Sept. 6).
• Freshman
Damani Osei made his first Bronco start against Utah Valley (Sept. 19).
Bronco Debuts
• Freshman
Damani Osei made his Bronco debut coming off the bench against Missouri State (Sept. 2).
Shutous
• Badenes Mecho recorded his first career shutout against Holy Cross (Aug. 30). He was also credited with shutouts in three straight matches against Lipscomb (Sept. 27), Evansville (Sept. 29) and CSUN (Oct. 5).
Starting XI
• Alex Achramowicz started in the first two matches (vs. Holy Cross on Aug. 30 and Missouri State on Sept. 2).
• Alan Camacho Soto started against Holy Cross on Aug. 30, Missouri State on Sept. 2 and San Diego State on Sept. 14.
•
Nate Shue started against San Jose State (Sept. 6), Grand Canyon (Sept. 8) and San Diego State (Sept. 14).
• Presten Manthey started against San Jose State (Sept. 6) and Grand Canyon (Sept. 8).
• Isaac Addai started for the first time this season against Portland (Oct. 26).
Spreading the Wealth
Steady D
• Santa Clara has held opponents to one goal or less in all but two matches this season. After the opening day shutout against Holy Cross, the Broncos allowed one goal in each of the subsequent six matches followed by three straight shutouts before giving up a season-high two goals against then-No. 8 Saint Mary's (Oct. 12). They also conceded two goals against Portland (Oct. 26).
• The last time the Broncos posted shutouts in three-straight matches was back in 2012 when they shut out NJIT (Sept. 21), San Diego (Sept. 28) and LMU (Sept. 30).
• During the three-match shutout streak, the Broncos held their opponents scoreless for 349 straight minutes until the first half goal by Saint Mary's Joseph Restani on Oct. 12.
National Ranking
• Goalkeeper
Guillem Badenes Mecho is ranked 19th in the country (and second in the WCC) in goals-against-average with 0.78. The freshman has four clean sheets on the season and has given up only nine goals in 12 matches spanning 1039 minutes of action.
Home, then away
• Santa Clara started its season with a five-match homestand, followed by five straight matches on the road before starting West Coast Conference play at home on Oct. 12.
• The team finished with a 2-2-1 record in the homestand and 4-1 on the road trip.
Road Warriors
• The Broncos have a 4-2 record away from home including 4-1 in true road games. They lost a neutral site match in Las Vegas against Utah Valley, 1-0, on Sept. 19.
• Santa Clara had its four-match road win streak snapped at Portland (Oct. 26).
Two Goals Equal a Win
• In all seven wins this season, the Broncos have scored two or more goals.
Close Margins
• Four of the five Broncos losses this season have been by a one goal margin. The first three were 1-0 losses to Missouri State (Sept. 2), Grand Canyon (Sept. 8) and Utah Valley (Sept. 19) before losing 2-1 to Saint Mary's (Oct. 12).
• The Broncos lost by a two goal differential for the first time against Portland (Oct. 26) all season.
Attendance
• The home match against Saint Mary's (Oct. 12) drew a crowd of 1,514, for the biggest SCU men's soccer crowd at Stevens Stadium since 2007 when 2,487 fans attended the third round of the NCAA tournament against Notre Dame game on Dec. 1. It was the biggest regular season crowd since Oct. 21, 2007 when Santa Clara played Gonzaga infront of 1,618 fans.
TICKETS
Season or single-match tickets are available. Click
here to purchase online or contact the ticket office weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. at (408) 554-4660 or
BroncoTickets@scu.edu. Group discounts are also available through our ticket office sales and service consultants. Gates to
Stevens Stadium, as well as its ticket office, are open one hour prior to the start of the match. Prices subject to change.
MATCH PROMOTION
PARKING
For weekday matches, the
Leavey Center lot (see below for access), located on Accolti Way off El Camino Real, is free beginning one hour prior to kickoff. Any other parking facility on campus will be subject to normal daily rates or restrictions, including the main structure, located adjacent to
Stevens Stadium on Palm Drive. During the weekend, campus parking facilities are free (except for permit required locations). Click
here for a campus map and parking restrictions.
The construction of the Stephen C. and Patricia A. Schott Athletic Excellence Center has necessitated the closure of the main entrance (off Accolti Way) to the Leavey Center parking lot. Access is now ONLY directly from El Camino Real (Route 82). If you are traveling east on El Camino Real, the Leavey lot entrance will be approximately 150 yards on the right (enter through the black iron gate) after you pass the main campus entrance. If you are traveling west on El Camino, make a u-turn at the main campus entrance at Palm Drive/Railroad Ave and follow the same directions.
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