SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara women's soccer has long been one of the top programs in the nation under head coach Jerry Smith who is in his 36th year at the helm.

Recently, the West Coast Conference featured a piece called The Staying Power of the Broncos that looks at how the Broncos have accomplished this feat.

Below are some facts about Santa Clara's incredible success that aren't features in the WCC's story. 

• The Broncos have been to 32 NCAA Tournaments and have missed the dance just twice since their first appearance. The 32 appearances are the third most all-time, trailing just Virginia (35) and North Carolina (41).
• Santa Clara's 12 trips to the College Cup are tied with Notre Dame and Florida State for the second most all-time, behind North Carolina's 30.
• The Broncos have been to the Sweet 16 22 times and the Elite 8 17 times.
• With two National Championships (2001, 2020) the Broncos are one of just seven programs with multiple national titles. Just four teams have more.
• Overall, the program is 63-25-6 in the NCAA Tournament and 37-3-3 at home. They have outscored their opponents 167-80 in the postseason.
• Santa Clara has won at least one game in the NCAA Tournament 25 times, including its last 10 trips.
• Through the 2021 season, Santa Clara was one of just three teams to make the third round in each of the last three years. The other teams are Florida State and Penn State. The Broncos were also just one of five teams to make the third round of the NCAA Tournament five of the last six seasons. The other teams are North Carolina (2016-20), UCLA (2016-20), Florida State (2017-21), Virginia (2016-18, 2020-21), and Duke (2016-17, 2019-20).
• Against the most dominant program in history, North Carolina, Santa Clara has had tremendous success. The Broncos are 6-3 in the last nine meetings, including 4-1 in the last five NCAA Tournament matchups. They were the first team to ever keep the Tar Heels from reaching the College Cup when they beat them in the round of 16 in 2004.
• There have been 56 Broncos that went on to play professionally with 23 representing their country on the National stage. The full list can be found here.
• The Broncos have won at least 10 matches in 35 of the last 36 seasons.
• There have been 51 All-Americans in program history.
• Four players (Brandi Chastain in 1990, Aly Wagner in 2001, Leslie Osborne in 2004, and Alex Loera in 2020) have won the Honda Award.
• Two players (Mandy Clemens in 1999 and Aly Wagner in 2002) have won the MAC Hermann Trophy.

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