Aug. 29, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - For the first time since the preseason polls before the 2003 season, the Santa Clara University women's soccer team sits atop the nation at No. 1. Tuesday, Soccer Buzz released its poll after the first weekend of the season, and on the strength of a pair of quality wins over Wake Forest and Utah combined with a loss by No. 1 UCLA to Penn State, Santa Clara took over the top spot.
"It is always nice to be recognized and respected by fellow coaches and media outlets and put out the rankings," Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith said. "As to how the players will handle having the target of being the No. 1 team in the nation on their backs should be fun to watch. We put the schedule together so that we may play against the best teams in the country, and we hope that we bring in great talent and highly-ranked teams, because it forces our team to deal with that pressure and to prepares us for the NCAA Tournament."
The Broncos will take their newly-earned No. 1 ranking on the road this weekend, traveling to South Bend, Ind. for a pair of matches. Santa Clara will face off against Harvard at 3 p.m. PT Friday before taking the field against No. 1 (Soccer Times) Notre Dame at 11 a.m. PT.