Full Schedule

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Looking to get back to the NCAA tournament for the 26th time, Santa Clara women's soccer announced its 2016 schedule Tuesday. The Broncos will play 11 home matches and eight on the road. They will also play their first nine games against teams that were in the NCAA Tournament last year and will play a total of 11 tournament participants from 2015.

After an exhibition vs. Seattle at Stevens Stadium on August 11, Santa Clara opens the regular season with four straight Pac-12 matchups. The season-opener will be vs. USC on August 19 followed by a showdown with Cal two days later.

The Broncos then head out on the road to play at Washington State and Washington before returning home for a four-game homestand.

Santa Clara then plays at Stanford on September 16. The Broncos will be looking for back-to-back wins over the Cardinal for the first time since 2003. Last season, Santa Clara took down then-No. 6 Stanford 1-0 at home.

The nonconference finale comes September 22 against UC Irvine. It will be the first game for Santa Clara that isn't against a 2015 NCAA tournament team.

"Our schedule next year is very aggressive, which is what we always try to do with our nonconference games," Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith said. "Our first nine opponents played in the NCAA Tournament last year and we'll have a really good idea of our viability of being an NCAA tournament team this year after that stretch."

West Coast Conference action kicks off Sept. 29 with what many consider the toughest road trip of the league schedule. The Broncos play at BYU September 29 and travel to San Diego two days later.

The conference home-opener is against Pacific on October 7.

Senior day will be October 30 vs. Portland with the regular season wrapping-up at San Francisco November 5.

"The nonconference games will also prepare us for our league schedule," Smith said. "The league did really well in the tournament last year. We start WCC play at BYU, which is one of the toughest games you can play in our league schedule. The schedule is a great opportunity for the team to figure out where they stand. We have a lot of great home games for our fans to come to and it should be a great season."

The first round of the NCAA tournament takes place from November 11-13 at campus sites.

The College Cup is December 2-4 in Cary, North Carolina. The Broncos are looking to make it to their 11th College Cup.