SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara women's soccer team will return to the Bay Area to play Georgetown on Fri., Sept. 7 at 4:30 p.m. in the Stanford Tournament before hosting Boston University at 1 p.m. on Sun., Sept. 9 at Buck Shaw Stadium.
"I thought we did a much better job attacking last weekend then we have at any point this year," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "We had a lot of chances vs. Connecticut and vs. Notre Dame, the dangerous chances were pretty even. We did a much better job of holding the ball and keeping possession. It was the first time this year that I thought we really were dangerous on offense consistently. It was a good step in the right direction and we need to keep moving in that direction this weekend."
At the Notre Dame Adidas Invitational the Broncos brought home a couple of awards from the tournament. Meleana Shim, Allie Vernon and freshman Andi Tostanoski were named to the all-tournament team with Tostanoski also bringing home the Golden Gloves for the best goalkeeper.
The Broncos gladly welcomed back Sofia Huerta this week who returned to the team after participating in the U-20 Women's World Cup for Mexico. The Mexican National Team advanced to the quarterfinals where it lost 1-0 to Nigeria in double-overtime. In the four games she played, Huerta scored three goals. Huerta scored eight goals in 2011 for the Broncos, good for second on the team, so Santa Clara will surely benefit from having her attacking the goal.
"Having Sofia back will absolutely help the team," said Smith. "Whether she starts or comes off the bench, she attacks the goal and that will benefit the team. We'll have to see how she integrates back into the team this week during training to find out how we can best use her this weekend. Having someone with that attacking mindset should help us get the offense going. Last year she started the season at center back and our offense really got going once we moved her up front where she ended up second on the team in scoring."
Fellow Bronco Julie Johnston is currently in Japan getting ready for the U-20 World Cup finals as the captain of the U.S. squad. The Americans will take on Germany in the finals who took them down 3-0 during group play. The championship will take place on Sat., Sept. 8 at 3:20 a.m. PDT and will be broadcast online here.
Georgetown moved into the top-25 for the first time this year at No. 23 after a 6-0-0 start. The Hoyas have demolished their opponents by outscoring them 16-2. They have attempted 87 shots and only allowed 40 and have had 44 corner kicks to their opponents 14.
For the Hoyas, Kaitlin Brenn leads the team with four goals and has one assist for a team-best 11 points. Daphne Corboz has scored four goals and is tied for the team-lead in assists with two. Colleen Dinn has two goals to her credit while five other players have scored once each. Corboz has registered the game-winner in three games already and has taken 14 shots. Emma Newins has made all six starts in net and has a save percentage of .944 with 17 saves. She is allowing a measly 0.18 GAA with four shutouts to her credit.
Boston has gotten off to a 3-2-1 start while playing one ranked team, No. 10 Boston College, and it lost 3-1. Boston has outshot its opponents 101-76 with a .455 shot on goal percentage.
The offensive attack of the Terriers has been extremely balanced with five players scoring two goals each and two more adding one apiece. Brea Hewitt leads the team with five points and Taylor Krebs has a team-high three assists. Andrea Green has played every minute in goal this season had has registered a .806 save percentage while allowing seven goals and picking up 29 saves. Green has three shutouts in six games.