SANTA CLARA, Calif. – In a three-period, 110-minute exhibition match, No. 21 Santa Clara women's soccer came away with a 4-0 win over Seattle on Thursday night at Stevens Stadium. After starting slowly, the Broncos came on strong with three goals in the final period.

The tune-up for the regular season allowed nine Broncos to see their first action for Santa Clara with three in the starting 11. With so many new faces, some nerves were to be expected.

"The reason we wanted to play an exhibition game was to get out the nervous jitters before our first official game and I saw a lot of nervous jitters," Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith said. "Despite that we got to see a lot of our new players today. What's clear about our team is that we have really good depth this year. We have a lot of options, which is a good problem to have. There will be good players sitting on the bench but they'll be ready to come in and contribute."

After a slow start and a flat first period, Santa Clara broke the scoreless tie in the 40th minute with a goal from Gudrun Arnardottir. Brittany Ambrose sent in a perfect ball to Arnardottir's head and she was able to finish the chance to make it 1-0.

"Gudrun scored a really nice goal for us off of a corner kick play," Smith said. "That helped settle us down a little bit, as goals always do. We played a little better after that but a lot of credit goes to Seattle. They're a well-coached team and they have a lot of good players. They're picked to win their conference and they're a good, solid team that made it difficult for us in that first period."

The floodgates opened in the third period with the Broncos finding the back of the net three times.

Machaela George took a pass from Alyssa Fiddes in the 89th minute off a long cross and used a few touches before hitting a low shot to the far post for the second goal of the game.

Katie Pingel flicked a ball over the keeper in the 95th minute and Duffy Moyer scored off a deflection in the 102nd minute to round out the scoring.

"I was pleased with the performance today," Smith said. "We were able to pick up a shutout and score four goals without losing anyone to injury. Overall it was a good first game."

The regular season opens Aug. 19 as the Broncos host No. 11 USC at Stevens Stadium. You can buy tickets here.