SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Heading into the second to last weekend of the season, Santa Clara women's soccer plays two matches at Buck Shaw. On Fri., Oct. 31 the Broncos face Gonzaga at 7 p.m. and on Sun., Nov. 2 Santa Clara faces rival Portland at 2 p.m. The Portland game will be broadcast live on ESPNU and WatchESPN.com. Last week Santa Clara split a pair of road games with a loss at No. 19 BYU and a 3-1 win at San Diego. The Broncos are now 11-6-0 on the season and 4-2-0 in West Coast Conference play.
"To go out to Utah and play in Provo against a very good team at altitude and get back on the play and fly to San Diego, that's a very tough road trip," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "It's arguably the toughest road trip in our conference against two teams that are used to going to the NCAA Tournament. I was very proud of the team on Sunday. It was a very good win. None of three remaining games will be easy, but we are at home, and we are looking forward to playing at home. We are looking forward to having a chance to finish no worse than second place in our league and looking forward to playing well against Gonzaga and Portland this weekend."
Santa Clara has outscored opponents 26-21 and outshot teams 191-168. They hold a 93-81 advantage in shots on goal.
Sofia Huerta is second in the conference with 12 goals and 27 points. She is also third on Santa Clara with three assists. Brittany Ambrose is second on the team with six goals and has added two assists for 14 points. Kat McAuliffe has found the back of the net three times and leads the Broncos with five assists. Mariana Galvan has scored twice while Kellie Peay, Nikki Ambrose, and Anjel Brown each have one goal. Andi Tostanoski has allowed 21 goals for a 1.23 GAA and has made 58 saves for a .734 save percentage. She has collected six solo shutouts on the season with a shared shutout as well.
Santa Clara is 18-1-2 all-time vs. Gonzaga with the first meeting coming in 1993. Last year the Broncos beat Gonzaga 6-3 in Spokane. The last meeting in Santa Clara was a 2-0 Bronco win in 2012.
Gonzaga enters the week with an 8-7-1 overall record and a 3-2-1 mark in WCC play. Last week the Bulldogs lost to LMU 2-1 and tied No. 11 Pepperdine 1-1. The Zags have outscored opponents 23-18 on the season with a 233-197 edge in shots and a 103-91 lead in shots on goal.
"Gonzaga is, first of all, a very hardworking and disciplined team," said Smith. "They have a mentality about them of: be determined, work hard, leave everything out there on the field. They are going to make you work for everything, and I think that's one of the trademarks for teams that play well at the end of the year. They are going to make us work for everything, they work hard defensively, they work hard in attack, and unlike some of the teams that we play that might have one or two key players, Gonzaga is a team of hardworking, tough kids. I think the key for us is to not get out worked and make sure that against their defensive pressure we move the ball very well."
Karley Baggerly leads Gonzaga with 11 points and is tied for the team lead with four goals while placing second with three assists. Tori Lee also ahs four goals and one assist for nine points. Three Zags have scored three goals each while Katey Pennington leads the team with four assists. Christie Tombari has allowed 18 goals for a 1.09 GAA. She has made 69 saves for a .793 save percentage and has five shutouts.
Santa Clara is 15-15-3 all-time vs. Portland with the first meeting coming in 1984. Last year Portland topped the Broncos 3-1 at home. The last meeting at Buck Shaw was in 2012 when the teams tied 2-2.
Portland is 6-8-2 on the season and 3-3-0 in conference play. Last week the Pilots lost 1-0 to No. 11 Pepperdine and topped LMU 1-0. They have been outscored on the season 21-15 and outshot 206-153. Teams have a 96-65 lead in shots on goal as well.
"Portland is a very proud program," said Smith. "They know that they are not going to postseason, they know they only have a couple of games left on the year, and they are going to want to finish on a high note. They have an outstanding coaching staff, they have a lot of wonderful players that returned from last years team that went to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. I couldn't tell you why they aren't having as many wins this year, but with a program like Portland, and their reputation, it's a team that we never take lightly for sure."
Danica Evans leads Portland with seven goals and 16 points while also tying for the team-lead with two assists. Noelle LaPrevotte is second on the team with three goals and seven points. Allison Wetherington and Parkes Kendrick each have two goals and two assists. Kaycie Young and Ellie Boon have added two assists apiece. Taylor Luty has allowed 13 goals for a 1.29 GAA and has made 36 saves for a .735 save percentage. Hanna De Haan has allowed eight goals for a 1.25 GAA with 35 saves for a .814 save percentage.
