SANTA CLARA, Calif. – With a new head coach at the helm, Santa Clara women's rowing opens its season Sunday at the Port of Sacramento against UC Davis, Humboldt State, and Orange Coast College.

First-year head coach Matt Pinschmidt joined the Broncos in September and set out on shaping the program.

"The returners have been willing to adapt to a new coach, new training plan and, for them, a very different technical focus," Pinschmidt said. "Another positive development has been the better than hoped for contribution of our first-year rowers. Some of them started in January and are already putting up great times on the ergs and working hard to improve on the water."

As the season has approached, the team has intensified its workouts and taken a step forward. The Broncos have shown an increase in focus, commitment to every stroke in practice, and the visible determination to keep that going.

To help get ready for their first race, the Broncos squared-off with Mills College in an informal dual on Sunday.

"The dual with Mills was great experience for our first-year rowers," Pinschmidt said. "This weekend will definitely be a step up in the speed and experience of our competition as we face Humboldt State which is a DII school but won the DII NCAA team title as recently as 2014 and has a roster size nearly double ours. UC Davis is a club team but has a new coach who seems to have really improved their overall speed. OCC is, in my mind, the premier junior college team in the country. Success for us will be measured in how well we respond to the pressure of racing three other teams and if we get the little things right that have led to successful practices."

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