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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Winners of six of its last seven games, No. 19 Santa Clara women's soccer starts West Coast Conference play Sunday at 1 p.m. with a matchup against San Francisco at Stevens Stadium. Last week the Broncos went to UC Irvine and came away with a 4-0 win. Santa Clara is now 7-3-0 on the season, with all three loses coming to teams in the top-17 in the latest NSCAA Poll.
Grace Cutler leads Santa Clara with four goals and is tied for the team-lead with eight points. Dani Weatherholt has two assists and three goals to tied Cutler with eight points. Julie Vass also has three goals, all game-winners, while adding an assist. Jenna Roering has scored two goals and four other Broncos have one goal each. Megan Crosson leads the team with four assists.
Andi Tostanoski has started all 10 games and has allowed just five goals for a 0.53 GAA. She has collected 47 saves for a .904 save percentage, which is good for 13th in the country, and has five shutouts.
"We've played a really tough non-conference schedule and it's prepared us well to get into conference play," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "For many teams conference play is the most important part of the year. For us it's very important but we have our sights set on making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament so every game matters. Everything gets turned up a notch when you get to conference play. We're excited about the opportunity and feel like the team is ready."
Santa Clara is 30-0-1 all-time vs. San Francisco with the first meeting coming in 1985. Last year the Broncos won in San Francisco 1-0 in double overtime.
San Francisco (6-2-3) is 3-1-1 on the road this season and has outscored opponents 15-6. Last week the Dons fell to No. 13 Cal 2-0 and tied Boise State 0-0.
"USF is having a great year and look like a tough, organized team that will be good defensively," said Smith. "Their head coach has been there just long enough to put his style together and create the culture he wants. They've been tougher and tougher over the last few years and this is looking like one of their best teams in many years. They'll present a lot of challenges for us, particularly defensively. We'll have to score a tough goal against them like we did in the Oklahoma game."
Samantha Jehning and Amanda Whittle are tied for the team-lead with eight points each. Jehnings is tied for the lead with three goals and has added two assists while Whittle leads the team with four assists and has added two goals. Sonja Giraud is tied with Jehnings with three goals scored.
Madalyn Schiffel has started all 11 games and allowed six goals for a 0.52 GAA. She has made 49 saves for a .891 save percentage while collecting six shutouts.
