SANTA CLARA, Calif. – One week into a month-long home stand, Santa Clara women's soccer will host CSUN on Fri., Sept. 18 at 5 p.m. and No. 6 Stanford Sun., Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. Last week the Broncos took down Oklahoma 2-0 and played a close game to No. 7 Penn State before falling 1-0. Santa Clara is 4-3-0 on the year.
Sunday's game will also feature a pregame celebration of the $7.7 million gift given by the Stevens family. Santa Clara Director of Athletics Renee Baumgartner and Mary and Mark Stevens will speak before the game and Santa Clara University President Father Michael Engh, S.J. with bless the stadium. There will be fireworks during the celebration and after the game. It will also be the first night back for the students of the university with a pep rally before the game.
"I really see our team growing in confidence and improving every week," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "We're playing better and better in every game. Coming off our best performance of the year against Oklahoma I thought we created a lot of dangerous chances against Penn State. We gave them everything they could handle in a game that could have gone either way. Our team is in a really good place and looking forward to two tough games this weekend."
Grace Cutler leads Santa Clara in goals with two and is tied for the team lead with four points. Jenna Roering leads the team with two assists and is tied with Cutler with four points. Five other Broncos have added one goal each.
In net Andi Tostanoski has allowed five goals for a 0.70 GAA. She has made 41 saves and has a .891 save percentage to go with four shutouts.
Santa Clara is 2-0-0 all-time vs. CSUN with the first meeting coming in 2012. Last year the Broncos won in Northridge 1-0.
The Matadors are 6-2-0 on the season. Last week they fell 3-1 at Washington but bounced back with a 1-0 win at Portland.
"On Friday we know we'll have our hands full with Northridge," said Smith. "They have six wins and are coming off a win at Portland. We won a close match down at their place last year and it's going to be another great match for us this year."
Cynthia Sanchez leads CSUN with six goals and 13 points. Kourtney Kutscher has found the back of the net three times while Destinney Duron is tops on the team with three assists and has scored one goal. Six other Matadors have scored at least one goal and six have at least one assist.
Cynthia Tafoya has played five games and allowed five goals for a 0.99 GAA. She has made 13 saves and has a .722 save percentage and two shutouts. Jovani McCaskill has played in three games and allowed just one goal for a 0.33 GAA. She has made 11 saves and has a .917 save percentage to go with two shutouts.
"On Sunday we're playing our local rival and a top-10 team in Stanford," said Smith. "We're thanking the Stevens family for their wonderful gift and we're welcoming back all of our students at SCU, and especially welcoming our incoming freshman class. It's one of the most exciting times of the year all wrapped up in one day. It should be a fantastic game filled with plenty of energy and entertainment. We're ready to battle a very, very good Stanford team."
Santa Clara is 18-20-7 all-time vs. Stanford with the first meeting coming in 1980. Last year the Broncos lost 3-0 in Palo Alto. The last Bronco win over Stanford was Nov. 20, 2009 when Santa Clara advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 1-0 win.
The Cardinal are 5-1-0 on the season. Last week they fell to No. 7 Penn State and came back with a 2-1 overtime win vs. Oklahoma.
Haley Rosen leads Stanford with five points on a team-high three assists and has added a goal. Michelle Xiao and Andi Sullivan have each scored two goals to lead the Cardinal while five others have scored once each.
Jane Campbell has played the majority of minutes in goal and has allowed four goals for a 0.71 GAA. She has made eight saves for a .667 save percentage and has three shutouts.
