SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's soccer had another impressive season in 2015. The Broncos finished No. 18 in the final RPI and No. 20 in the final NSCAA Coaches' Poll, while receiving one of 16 national seeds in the NCAA tournament. Advancing to the second round, Santa Clara made its 25th NCAA tournament and fifth in the last six years. Their first round win vs. Long Beach State was the 48th tournament win in program history.

"This was a great season for us," said Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith. "We got an NCAA bid and one of the 16 national seeds, which were some of our goals that we set. We weren't able to win the conference but we came within two points of accomplishing that goal. We had six players recognized at the all-conference level so all-in-all we feel like it was a very good year."

Santa Clara faced played nine teams that played the NCAA tournament, including eventual national champion Penn State who finished No. 2 in the RPI. All nine of those teams ended with an RPI in the top-50 and the Broncos finished with a record of 4-5-1 against those opponents. No. 21 Cal and No. 45 Long Beach State fell in the first round of the tournament, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 19 BYU, and No. 35 Northwestern made it to the second round, No. 27 Arizona and No. 41 LMU made it to the Sweet 16, and No. 6 Stanford advanced to the Elite 8.

All six of the Bronco losses came by just one goal. The last time that happened was in 2001 when the team went 23-2-0 and won the national championship.

"This year reestablished some confidence in our program," said Smith. "Last year we didn't beat any top-50 teams but this year we had several key victories. We played two of the four No. 1 seeds and both games were even. To know you can play the best teams in the country evenly, definitely helps your confidence."

The Broncos outscored opponents 30-15 on the season. From Oct. 9 through Nov. 14 Santa Clara went on a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2). The biggest win of the year was a 1-0 victory over then-No. 6 Stanford. It was the first win for Santa Clara over Stanford since a 2-0 win at home on Sept. 20, 2006. It was also the Broncos first win over a top-10 team since a 1-0 win vs. No. 3 Pepperdine on Oct. 28, 2011.

Julie Vass tied for third in the WCC with eight goals and had 17 points. She also led the Broncos with five game-winning goals. Freshman Grace Cutler scored six times and added one assist. Mariana Galvan scored three goals, with each one coming in double-overtime. Megan Crosson was second in the WCC with seven assists.

"When you lose a player that has the lion's share of your goal scoring production like we did after 2014, there's always concern but we tend to look at everything form an optimistic point of view," said Smith. "The positive is that everyone feels they have to make up the difference. Sometimes you end up a better team because so many people step up to fill the void. A number of people did that this year, including Julie Vass who had a phenomenal year for us. It was great to see."

Andi Tostanoski was a force in net while allowing just 14 goals for a 0.63 GAA, good for second in the conference. She made the third-most saves in the WCC with 92 and had a .868 save percentage, which was No. 12 in the country. Tostanoski picked up a league-leading 10 shutouts. She stopped a penalty kick in the late minutes of the match vs. Stanford to give Santa Clara a chance to score the game-winner.

"I was really impressed with what our team did defensively this year," said Smith. "We had a great commitment to defending and were never out of any game. Our back line had some new people and we really managed to come together. One of the main reasons we were so good defensively was our leader back there, Andi Tostanoski. Leadership doesn't show up on the stat sheet but that was one of the biggest reasons we were so good defensively this year."

Vass and senior Dani Weatherholt, who scored the game-winner vs. Stanford, were First Team All-WCC while Kellie Peay was Second Team All-WCC. Tostanoski was honorable mention and Janae Gonzalez and Jazmin Jackmon were named to the All-WCC freshman team. In addition, Vass was named to the First Team All-West Region, Peay to the second team, andTostanoski and Weatherholt were named to the third team.

The Broncos will lose four players due to graduation. While the number is small, the impact is big but Smith is confident in the returners and the newcomers to pick up the slack.

"The future is bright for us," said Smith. "We lose four great seniors, which is hard, but when you have a solid program you lose great players every year. We have a wonderful recruiting class coming in and had a lot of younger players that got good experience this year. That combination allows us to feel good heading into next year."