SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's soccer begins its 2021 regular season against Cal Poly on Friday night.  Kick off inside Stevens Stadium – Buck Shaw Field is at 7:30 p.m.

The match will be the season opener for both schools and the first non-exhibition match for the Mustangs since Nov. 6, 2019 when they lost to Cal State Fullerton in the Big West Conference Tournament.  Cal Poly had its 2020 campaigned canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As a tune up to Friday's match, the Broncos played in three exhibition matches going 1-0-2, winning the first game 3-1 over Menlo College before playing to a 1-1 draw against UC Davis and a scoreless draw with Stanford. 

SERIES HISTORY
Santa Clara is 7-1 all-time against Cal Poly with the first meeting coming in 1980. The last meeting was a 2-0 Broncos victory in 2018 in San Luis Obispo.

EVENT PROTOCOL
All Santa Clara Athletics home events will operate in compliance with state, county, and university COVID-19 guidelines. While masks are not required for outdoor events on campus, we highly encourage fans to wear masks especially when social distancing guidelines cannot be met or when others around you are eating or drinking. Seating in Stevens Stadium is general admission and we encourage everyone to utilize appropriate social distancing in the stands and common areas. Updates will be provided should there be an adjustment in protocol. 

THE BRONCOS
Santa Clara head coach Cam Rast begins his 20th year at the helm to lead a squad that returns 19 players including four All-West Coast Conference honorees from a team that finished 4-4 during a pandemic shortened season in the spring.

The Broncos will look to build on a strong finish to the spring campaign when they finished the season with three-straight shutout wins.

Seventeen of the returners played in the last two seasons with 15 of them appearing in at least five matches last spring.  Among them are all five goal scorers and the returning goalkeeper Andreu Cases Mundet who was credited with the three clean sheets to end the year.

The Broncos will be led by two-time All-WCC first team selection Javier Ruiz Duran.  The forward from Barcelona, Spain led the team in assists with three and scored a pair of goals to tie for second on the squad including the game-winner at Portland (April 3).  His seven points were second most on the team behind Oladayo Thomas' nine points.

Thomas, playing in his first year with the Broncos after transferring from Gettysburg College, finished the spring season on a tear scoring four goals in the final three games.  Two of his goals were game-winners coming against Gonzaga (March 28) and San Diego (April 11).  He also added an assist to finish with a team-high nine points to garner All-WCC honorable mention along with senior Alejandro Barajas and freshman Caden Buckley.   Buckley was also named to the All-Freshman team. 

NOTES

Broncos Team Information
• Nineteen players return.

• Seventeen players with playing experience return including 15 who played five or more games last season.

• Broncos welcome nine newcomers:

-Five freshmen (Blake Gillingham, Kwaku Marfo-Sarbeng, Fynn Neubert, Aaron Sandhu, Dominic Vegaalban)

-Four transfers (Keanu Born – Texas A&M International, Joshua Dabora – Penn State, Bar Hazut – University of Illinois-Chicago, Ruben Stuiver – University of San Francisco) 

• Returning goal scorers (2020 stats): Oladayo Thomas (four), Javier Ruiz Duran (two), Caden Buckley (two), Juan O'Neill (one), Alejandro Barajas (one)

• Returning goalkeeper (2020 stats): Andreu Cases Mundet (6 GP, 4-2, 1.01 GAA, .625 save percentage, three shutouts), Jack Stoecker (Redshirt). 

Class Breakdown (28 players total)
• Graduate School: 7 (Alex Achramowicz, Alejandro Barajas, Keanu Born, Andreu Cases Mundet, Javier Ruiz Duran, Bar Hazut, Ruben Stuiver)

• Seniors: 8 (Julian Bravo, Sakari Carter, Nicholas Cudini, Eduardo Lopez Perez, Jack Murphy, Juan O'Neill, Alejandro Perez, Oladayo Thomas)

• Juniors: 2 (Joshua Dabora (RS), Damani Osei)

• Sophomores: 4 (Dylan Bartlett, Caden Buckley, Cole Motooka, Timmy Rast)

• Freshmen: 7 (Blake Gillingham, Tyrone Kirunda (RS), Kwaku Marfo-Sarbeng, Fynn Neubert, Aaron Sandhu, Jack Stoecker (RS), Dominic Vegaalban)

Across the Globe
• The Bronco roster fields a squad composed of player hometowns from seven states and nine countries.

• States (seven): California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, Virginia and Washington

• Countries (nine): England, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Spain and United States

Captains
Captains this season are graduate student forward Javier Ruiz Duran, graduate student goalkeeper Andreu Cases Mundet and senior defender Alejandro Perez.

Preseason All-Conference
Graduate student Javier Ruiz Duran was named to the 2021 preseason All-West Coast Conference team.  The Barcelona, Spain native is a four-time all-conference selection, having been named first team in 2019 and 2020, second team in 2018 and to the all-freshman team in 2017.

CAL POLY MUSTANGS
Cal Poly is led by former Santa Clara men's soccer head coach Steve Sampson who led the Broncos to the 1989 National Championship with current SCU head coach Cam Rast and associate head coach Eric Yamamoto on the squad as players.

Friday's contest will mark the start of Sampson's seventh year with the Mustangs program.  Coming into the game, Cal Poly has played in two exhibition matches falling to UCLA 1-0 on Aug. 21 and beating Fresno Pacific 2-1 on Tuesday.

The Mustangs, who did not play in 2020, return six starters, 10 letterwinners and 53 percent of its goal production from 2019. 

TICKETS
Tickets are available either online or at Stevens Stadium prior to the match. Purchase tickets online and avoid waiting at the stadium box office which opens one hour prior to kickoff. Questions may be directed to the Santa Clara Athletics ticket office from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at (408) 554-4660 or BroncoTickets@scu.edu. The ticket office also handles inquiries on group tickets.

PARKING
For weekday matches, the Leavey Center lot (see below for access), located on Accolti Way off El Camino Real, is free beginning one hour prior to kickoff. Any other parking facility on campus will be subject to normal daily rates or restrictions, including the main structure, located adjacent to Stevens Stadium on Palm Drive. During the weekend, campus parking facilities are free (except for permit required locations). Click here for a campus map and parking restrictions.

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