Posted: Nov 06, 2019
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's soccer hit the road for the final time this Saturday when they travel to Spokane, Washington to face Gonzaga at Luger Field in a West Coast Conference match. The kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. PT, having been pushed out by an hour due to a schedule change.
The Broncos (8-6-1, 2-3 WCC) have a 4-3 record away from home this season but are looking for their first conference road win against the Zags who are 1-3 at home. Gonzaga has had a tough season going 3-10-1 overall but sports an identical 2-3 conference record as the Broncos, tying for the fourth best record behind first place Saint Mary's and LMU (5-0) and third place Portland (3-2).
THE BULLDOGS (3-10-1, 2-3 WCC)
Head coach Paul Meehan is in his second season at the helm where he has a 5-24-3 record and seventh overall with the program.
The Zags average 0.86 goals per game and concede 1.93 goals per game and are getting outshot by five shots per game (9.3 to 14.3).
Demetrius Kigeya and Theo O'Malley leads the team with three goals each. Kigeya also has an assist to put him atop the team lead in points with seven to go along with 30 shots, by far the most on the team by 13.
Goalkeeper Johan Garibay has started in all 14 matches, playing in every single minute to post a .658 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY
Santa Clara leads the series 22-10-4. The Broncos won last season's meeting at home, 3-1.
Santa Clara leads the series 22-10-4. The Broncos won last season's meeting at home, 3-1.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION |
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THE BRONCOS (8-6-1, 2-3 WCC)
Through 15 matches this season, the Broncos have outscored their opponents 22-13 with 13 players scoring a goal, led by Julian Bravo, Javier Ruiz Duran, Eduardo Lopez Perez and Alan Camacho Soto with three each. The starting backline is comprised of three sophomores - Sakari Carter, Emil Christensen and Alejandro Perez - along with a freshman, Liam Anderson or Damani Osei, who have helped hold the opposition to just 13 goals with freshman goalkeeper Guillem Badenes Mecho starting in all but one match.
Badenes Mecho already has five clean sheets to his credit as defensively, the Broncos have kept the opposition under a single goal in all but three matches this season.
The 2019 campaign marks the 18th season at the helm for Santa Clara head coach Cam Rast who leads a squad that returns 23 players including three All-West Coast Conference honorees from a team that finished 5-10-2.
Nineteen of the returners saw action last season with 13 of them appearing in double digit matches to account for 80 percent of its goals and all of its assists.
Junior Javier Ruiz Duran led the team in goals (six) and assists (five) to earn All-WCC Second Team recognition along with senior Miles Robinson who scored four and assisted on three. Sophomore Eduardo Lopez Perez tallied a pair of goals and was named to the WCC All-Freshman team.
Redshirt junior Henning Jolivet brings the most experience between the woodwork playing in seven matches last season to finish with a 3-3-1 record and a 1.89 goals against average.
Head coach Cam Rast and team co-captain Emil Christensen preview the 2019 season!
— Santa Clara Men's Soccer (@SCUBroncoSoccer) August 30, 2019
FULL VIDEO ?? https://t.co/7utczJDOc7#StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/zpayTrHxaQ
NOTES
1989 National Championship - 30th Anniversary
• Santa Clara men's soccer celebrated their 30th anniversary of the 1989 National Championship this season. Members of the 1989 squad was recognized during halftime of the Oct. 12 match against Saint Mary's during Grand Reunion weekend. Current coaches Cam Rast and Eric Yamamoto were on the 1989 championship squad (video courtesy WCC).
Live Stream
• All Bronco home matches and West Coast Conference road matches are streamed live on the WCC Network with David Gentile doing the play-by-play for the home matches.
Broncos Team Information
• Twenty-three players return from the 2018 squad that finished with an overall record of 5-10-2 (1-5-1 in the West Coast Conference).
• Nineteen players with playing experience return including 13 who played 10 or more games last season.
• Broncos welcome five newcomers – four freshmen (Liam Anderson, Connor McCabe, Guillem Badenes Mecho and Damani Osei) plus one graduate student (Hendrik Kuehn).
• Only one scorer lost to graduation: Andres Jimenez (5 goals).
• Two captains lost to graduation: goalkeeper Dakota Havlick and midfielder Brandon Gillingham.
• Returning goal scorers (2018 stats): Javier Ruiz Duran (6), Miles Robinson (4), Alan Camacho Soto (3), Eduardo Lopez Perez (2), Julian Bravo (1), Alex Achramowicz (1), Sakari Carter (1)
• Returning goalkeepers (2018 stats): Henning Jolivet (7 GP, 3-3-1, 1.89 GAA, .641 save percentage), Aran O'Brien (Redshirt).
Captains
• Junior Javier Ruiz Duran and sophomore Emil Christensen are co-captains for the 2019 edition of the Broncos.
Class Breakdown
• Graduate School: 1 (Hendrik Kuehn)
• Juniors: 8 (Alex Achramowicz, Isaac Addai, Javier Ruiz Duran, Matt Golbranson (RS), Henning Jolivet (RS), Nate Shue (RS), Terrell Smith, Alan Camacho Soto)
• Sophomores: 9 (Martin Aasen, Alejandro Barajas (RS), Julian Bravo, Sakari Carter, Emil Christensen, Aran O'Brien (RS), Alejandro Perez, Eduardo Lopez Perez, Tennyson Stevens (RS))
• Freshmen: 7 (Liam Anderson, RJ Egdorf (RS), Presten Manthey (RS), Connor McCabe, Guillem Badenes Mecho, Damani Osei, Bishop Washington)
Across the Globe
• The Bronco roster fields a squad composed of player hometowns from eight states and five countries.
o States: California, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington
o Countries: Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain, United States
All-West Coast Conference
• Santa Clara returns three All-West Coast Conference players from last season: Javier Ruiz Duran (second-team), Miles Robinson (second-team) and Eduardo Lopez Perez (all-freshman).
• Robinson was named preseason All-WCC this season.
• A trio of players - Ruiz Duran, Nate Shue and Terrell Smith - were named to the conference All-Freshmen Team in 2017.
United Soccer Coaches All-West Region
• At the end of last season, Javier Ruiz Duran was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-West Region team.
2019 Exhibition Matches
• Santa Clara lost its exhibition opener 3-2 against UC Davis and played to a 1-1 draw in the second match against Sacramento State.
• Three players scored in the exhibition matches: Javier Ruiz Duran and Presten Manthey against UC Davis and Alejandro Barajas against Sacramento State.
• Freshman goalkeeper Guillem Badenes Mecho played in 135 of 180 minutes including starting the Sacramento State game.
Season Openers
• With the win against Holy Cross, Broncos head coach Cam Rast is 10-8 including 5-4 at home in season openers.
Firsts
Goals
• Senior Sam Agosti and sophomore Martin Aasen tallied their first goals as a Bronco in the season opener (Aug. 30) against Holy Cross.
• Redshirt freshman Presten Manthey and senior Dylan Carrubba scored their first career goals against San Jose State (Sept. 6).
• Junior Terrell Smith scored his first career goal against San Diego State (Sept. 14).
• Graduate student Hendrik Kuehn and sophomore Alejandro Perez each scored their first career goals against UNLV (Sept. 22).
• Junior Isaac Addai scored his first career goal against Lipscomb (Sept. 27).
• Sophomore Alejandro Barajas scored his first career goal against Evansville (Sept. 29).
Assists
• Senior Dylan Carrubba and redshirt sophomore Alejandro Barajas recorded their first career assists in the season opener (Aug. 30) against Holy Cross.
• Redshirt sophomore Presten Manthey had his first career assists (two) against San Jose State (Sept. 6).
• Sophomore Sakari Carter had his first career assist against San Diego State (Sept. 14).
• Sophomore Alejandro Perez recorded his first career assist against Lipscomb (Sept. 27).
• Sophomore Emil Christensen recorded his first career assist against Evansville (Sept. 29).
Starts
• Freshmen Guillem Badenes Mecho and Liam Anderson along with graduate student Hendrik Kuehn started in their Santa Clara debuts against Holy Cross.
• Redshirt freshman Presten Manthey made his first Bronco start against San Jose State (Sept. 6).
• Freshman Damani Osei made his first Bronco start against Utah Valley (Sept. 19).
Bronco Debuts
• Redshirt sophomore Tennyson Stevens and redshirt freshman Bishop Washington made their Bronco debuts coming off the bench in the season opener.
• Freshman Damani Osei made his Bronco debut coming off the bench against Missouri State (Sept. 2).
Shutous
• Badenes Mecho recorded his first career shutout against Holy Cross (Aug. 30). He was also credited with shutouts in three straight matches against Lipscomb (Sept. 27), Evansville (Sept. 29) and CSUN (Oct. 5). He also shutout San Francisco (Oct. 30) for his fifth of the season.
Starting XI
• Six Broncos have started in all matches this season: #5 Emil Christensen, #10 Javier Ruiz Duran, #11 Alejandro Barajas, #20 Eduardo Lopez Perez, #28 Alejandro Perez, #32 Hendrik Kuehn
• Alex Achramowicz started in the first two matches (vs. Holy Cross on Aug. 30 and Missouri State on Sept. 2).
• Alan Camacho Soto started against Holy Cross on Aug. 30, Missouri State on Sept. 2 and San Diego State on Sept. 14.
• Nate Shue started against San Jose State (Sept. 6), Grand Canyon (Sept. 8) and San Diego State (Sept. 14).
• Presten Manthey started against San Jose State (Sept. 6) and Grand Canyon (Sept. 8).
• Dylan Carrubba, Henning Jolivet and Damani Osei started for the first time this season against Utah Valley (Sept. 19).
• Isaac Addai started for the first time this season against Portland (Oct. 26).
• Sam Agosti started for the first time this season against San Francisco (Oct. 30).
Spreading the Wealth
• Thirteen Broncos have scored a goal this season led by Julian Bravo, Javier Ruiz Duran, ,Eduardo Lopez Perez and Alan Camacho Soto with three each. One Bronco has scored two goals: Sam Agosti. The Broncos have scored a total of 22 goals on the season.
• Five different Bronco has scored a game-winner: Julian Bravo vs Holy Cross (Aug. 30), Hendrik Kuehn vs UNLV (Sept. 22), Alan Camacho Soto vs Lipscomb (Sept. 27) & vs Pacific (Oct. 19), Eduardo Lopez Perez vs Evansville (Sept. 29) and Javier Ruiz Duran with three against San Jose State (Sept. 6), CSUN (Oct. 5) and San Francisco (Oct. 30).
• Ten Broncos have assists led by Alejandro Barajas with four.
Game-Winners
• All three of Javier Ruiz Duran's goals this season have been game-winners (vs. San Jose State on Sept. 6, at CSUN on Oct. 5, and vs. San Francisco on Oct. 30).
Steady D
• Santa Clara has five shutouts on the season thus far, the most since 2015 when the Broncos played in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Broncos have held opponents to one goal or less in all but three matches this season. After the opening day shutout against Holy Cross, the Broncos allowed one goal in each of the subsequent six matches followed by three straight shutouts before giving up a season-high two goals against then-No. 8 Saint Mary's (Oct. 12). They also conceded two goals against Portland (Oct. 26) and LMU (Nov. 2).
• The last time the Broncos posted shutouts in three-straight matches was back in 2012 when they shut out NJIT (Sept. 21), San Diego (Sept. 28) and LMU (Sept. 30).
• During the three-match shutout streak, the Broncos held their opponents scoreless for 349 straight minutes until the first half goal by Saint Mary's Joseph Restani on Oct. 12.
National Ranking
• Goalkeeper Guillem Badenes Mecho is ranked 24th in the country in goals-against-average with .812. The freshman has five clean sheets on the season and has given up only 11 goals in 14 matches spanning 1219 minutes of action.
Home, then away
• Santa Clara started its season with a five-match homestand, followed by five straight matches on the road before starting West Coast Conference play at home on Oct. 12.
• The team finished with a 2-2-1 record in the homestand and 4-1 on the road trip.
Road Warriors
• The Broncos have a 4-3 record away from home including 4-2 in true road games. They lost a neutral site match in Las Vegas against Utah Valley, 1-0, on Sept. 19.
• Santa Clara had its four-match road win streak snapped at Portland (Oct. 26).
Two Goals Equal a Win
• In seven of their eight wins this season, the Broncos have scored two or more goals. The only exception was the 1-0 win over San Francisco (Oct. 30).
Close Margins
• Four of the six Bronco losses this season have been by a one goal margin. The first three were 1-0 losses to Missouri State (Sept. 2), Grand Canyon (Sept. 8) and Utah Valley (Sept. 19) before losing 2-1 to Saint Mary's (Oct. 12).
• The Broncos lost by a two goals for the first time this season against Portland (Oct. 26) and also against LMU (Nov. 2).
Attendance
• The home match against Saint Mary's (Oct. 12) drew a crowd of 1,514, for the biggest SCU men's soccer crowd at Stevens Stadium since 2007 when 2,487 fans attended the third round of the NCAA tournament against Notre Dame game on Dec. 1. It was the biggest regular season crowd since Oct. 21, 2007 when Santa Clara played Gonzaga infront of 1,618 fans.
