SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's soccer announced its 2014 spring schedule today. The Broncos are scheduled to play five games at Buck Shaw with the first game coming April 6. Santa Clara will face the Sacramento Storm, Bay Area Breeze, and Ajax as well as Bay Area rivals Cal and Stanford.
"In the spring we do the same thing that we try to do in the fall, which is put together the best possible opponents," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "The restriction we have in the spring is that we can't spend any money so all the teams have to be local. We have three semi-pro teams on the schedule that are always a challenge for us and we're looking forward to all five of our matches. The matches this spring probably carry a little more importance than they normally would because we lost such a big group of seniors. It will be very important for us to let this new group establish themselves in new roles and do that against the best competition possible."
Santa Clara finished its 2013 season in the Sweet 16, where the Broncos tied No. 4 Virginia Tech but failed to advance on penalty kicks. They finished the season 16-4-2 and won a share of the West Coast Conference title with an 8-1-0 mark in conference play. Santa Clara finished the season ranked No. 7 in the country.
The Broncos finished second in the nation in scoring with 2.82 goals per game and was fifth with 7.50 points per game. The Broncos outscored opponents 62-25 while outshooting teams 398-242 and 208-127 in shots on goal. They picked up 110 corner kicks while allowing just 78. Santa Clara dominated both halves, outscoring opponents 35-12 in the first half and 26-12 in the second half.
Santa Clara had two players honored as All-Americans and four as All-West Region selections. Senior Julie Johnston was named first team on both lists while Sofia Huerta was First Team All-Region and Third Team All-American. Seniors Morgan Marlborough and Ellie Rice were honored as All-West selections. Head coach Jerry Smith was named 2013 NSCAA West Region Women's Coach of the Year.
Johnston and Marlborough were also taken in the NWSL draft. Johnston went No. 3 overall to the Chicago Red Stars while Marlborough went No. 3 in the second round, No. 12 overall, to FC Kansas City.
Johnston was also a M.A.C. Hermann Trophy Semifinalist for the third consecutive year.