SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Getting ready for a top-25 matchup, No. 16 Santa Clara women's soccer will play No. 25 Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 5 and Fresno State at 2:30 p.m. on Sun., Sept. 7. Both games will be preceded by a men's soccer game as part of doubleheaders. The game vs. Notre Dame will be called live on SantaClaraBroncos.com by Aly Wagner '03 and David Gentile. Last week Santa Clara topped Florida International 1-0 on a late goal to move to 2-1-0 on the season.
"One of the things we worked on last week was to be a more patient attacking team and I thought we were patient to a fault in the FIU game," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "We've got to find a balance of keeping the ball and creating dangerous chances. This week we'll be working with a faster rhythm of play that will hopefully lead to more scoring opportunities."
Santa Clara has outscored opponents 4-2 and is tied in shots at 32 and shots on goal at 16.
Sofia Huerta leads the team with three goals and nine points. She is also tops on the team with nine shots and six shots on goal. Kat McAuliffe has scored the only other Bronco goal and has added an assist. Dani Weatherholt and Jenna Roering each have one assist. Andi Tostanoski has allowed two goals and made 14 saves for a .875 save percentage and a 0.66 GAA.
"The most important thing for us this weekend is a faster rhythm of play," said Smith. "We want to play with urgency but not panic. We kept the ball last week but had no urgency. Whether you score or not, you want to create exciting opportunities and we just didn't do that. We don't want to rush the ball forward but we want to have a great speed of play that catches them off guard."
Notre Dame is 2-2 and coming off of two loses at home. On Aug. 29 the Fighting Irish fell 2-1 to No. 16 Texas Tech and followed it up with a 2-1 loss to USC. Both games were part of the Notre Dame Invitational.
"Sometimes results and performances don't go together and Notre Dame outplayed both opponents last weekend but lost both games," said Smith. "That's a very proud program with a lot of history. They have a lot of players that are used to being successful and I'm sure they're not happy about the results. They'll play well against us. It's going to be a good matchup of two top-25 teams and hopefully we'll do enough to come out with a victory."
The Broncos are 6-11-1 all-time vs. Notre Dame with the first meeting coming in 1995. The last meeting was a 2-1 Notre Dame win in South Bend last season. The last meeting at Buck Shaw was a 1-1 tie in 2011.
The Irish have outscored opponents 8-5 and outshot them 70-29. They hold the advantage in shots on goal 35-13.
Lauren Bohaboy leads the team with three goals and six points while Katie Naughton has found the back of the net twice. Morgan Andrews leads Notre Dame with three assists and Brittany Von Rueden is second with two helpers. Kaela Little has started three games and made five saves while allowing three goals for a .625 save percentage. Lexi Nicholas has also started a game and allowed two goals while picking up three saves for a .600 save percentage.
Fresno State enters the week with a 1-3-0 overall record and a three-game losing streak. Last week The Bulldogs fell on the road at Iowa 3-0 and at Drake 2-1.
The Broncos are 6-0-0 all-time vs. Fresno State with the first meeting coming in 1998. The last meeting was a 1-0 Santa Clara win in Fresno. The last meeting in Santa Clara was a 3-2 Bronco win in 2012.
The Bulldogs have been outscored 9-3 and outshot 59-36 with shots on goal favoring the opponents 33-15.
Jaycee Bingham is the only Bulldog to score this season and has two goals. Peyton Cline has both Fresno State assists on the year. The only other goal was credited as a team goal. Alyssa Wilson has allowed nine goals for a 2.97 GAA and has made 24 saves for a .727 save percentage.
"Against Fresno State last year we had to go to overtime to win and it was a very tough match," said Smith. "Right now we're focused on Notre Dame but quickly we'll have to shift our focus to Fresno State. Hopefully this weekend we'll come out with two good performances and two wins on the weekend."
