SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Sitting at No. 29 in the RPI, Santa Clara women's soccer begins its quest for an 11th West Coast Conference title on Thursday at No. 3 BYU. The Broncos and Cougars faceoff at 5 p.m. on BYUtv and TheW.tv.
Santa Clara faced one of the toughest nonconference schedule in the country, with nine of its 10 games coming against opponents that made the NCAA Tournament in 2015. The Broncos also faced five teams ranked in the NSCAA top-25 and went 2-2-1 in those matches.
They also played five top-40 RPI teams during the nonconference season. Santa Clara picked up wins against USC (No. 16) and Cal (No. 27) while tying Marquette (No. 39).
Santa Clara is 7-1-3 all-time vs. BYU with the first meeting coming in 1993. Last season the Broncos and Cougars battled to a scoreless draw at Stevens Stadium.
Last week the Broncos topped UC Irvine 1-0.
GAMDEDAY INFORMATION |
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| Televison | BYUtv |
| Video | TheW.tv |
| Live Stats | StatBroadcast |
THE BRONCOS
Santa Clara's (3-4-3) offense is led by Jordan Jesolva who leads the team with four goals, two assists, and 10 points. Jenna Roering is second on the team with three goals and seven points. Three other Broncos have scored once each and five others have one assist each.
Melissa Lowder has appeared in seven games in net and has allowed seven goals for a 1.00 GAA. She has made 21 saves for a .750 save percentage and has two shutouts. Courtney Ogren has played four games in goal and picked up her first career shutout against UC Irvine. She has allowed four goals for a 1.01 GAA and has 17 saves for a .810 save percentage.
THE COUGARS
BYU (9-1) has outscored opponents 30-7 on the season and outshot teams 148-103 with an 81-44 advantage in shots on goal. The team's 3.0 goals per game is No. 5 nationally.
The Cougars are riding an eight game winning streak with wins over then-No. 5 Penn State and at then-No. 19 Ohio State. Their only loss came against Nebraska in the second game of the season.
Ashley Hatch leads the country with 12 goals and 28 points. She is third on the BYU team with four assists. Michelle Vasconcelos has found the back of the net seven times and is second with five assists and 19 points. Nadia Gomes has scored four times and leads the Cougars with eight assists.
Hannah Clark has played eight games in net and allowed five goals for a 0.68 GAA. She has made 28 saves and has a .848 save percentage to go with four shutouts.
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