SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Coming off of a confident 4-1 win at Pacific on Sunday, the Santa Clara men's soccer team looks to carry its momentum into two key, West Coast Conference matchups this weekend. The Broncos (6-6-3, 2-1 WCC) travel down to San Diego, Calif. to face conference leader San Diego (8-4-4, 4-0 WCC) on Fri., Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. Then, the team returns to the Mission campus to host Loyola Marymount (7-4-5, 1-1-2 WCC) on Sun., Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.
Fans can watch both matches this weekend live with commentary on TheW.tv for free. Live stats will also be available via USDToreros.com and SantaClaraBroncos.com. Sunday will also feature a Senior Day ceremony before the match to honor the three Bronco seniors.
"The team understands the situation we are in—we need to win all of our games if we want to have control over winning the conference championships at the end of the season," said Santa Clara head coach Cameron Rast. "We need to focus on things we can control: making sure that defensively, we are connected and organized, that we are reading the game and looking to force play into areas where we want to win the ball and read mistakes so that we can exploit any problems the opponent may run into. On the attack, we want to be fluid and mobile where we have guys who are supporting the attack and moving forward and interchanging to make it difficult to organize against."
Rast, in his 13th season at the helm, emphasizes remaining focused for the full 90 minutes as key to getting a good result. "Both games against these opponents earlier in the season, we had some great chances, but we will need to be able to score more than one goal," said Rast. "There are not a lot of unknowns so our concentration, discipline and focus is going to be important. I think in the previous games, we felt we did not play our best in either one. That just leaves us with all the game to play for; if we can go out and be ready to compete for 90 minutes, I feel good about our chances."
Most recently, the Broncos trumped WCC opponent Pacific on Sunday evening behind a four-goal performance. Outshooting the Tigers 19-6, Ryan Masch, Matt Steurer, Max Ornstil and Carlos Delgadillo found the back of the net to give the Broncos their second WCC victory of the season.
Newcomer Delgadillo leads the team with four goals, five assists and 13 points on the season. He had the first goal against Portland on Sunday, Oct. 19 off of Masch's free kick, which was featured as the No. 3 Top Play of the Week for The W.tv on Oct. 21. Hailing from San Jose, Calif., Delgadillo records 10 shots on goal with a .500 shots on goal percentage. Max Ornstil adds to the Broncos' offensive force with three goals and six points in is junior season. Six other Broncos tally goals this year.
With Benjamin Kucera and Valdemar Andersen holding down the back line, the Bronco defense has shut out opponents four times and limits them to a .422 shots on goal percentage. Carl Carrwik had his first start this season as the Santa Clara goalkeeper against Maryland. He has collected five saves with a .556 save percentage after two matches in goal. Kendall McIntosh, the starting keeper for 13 games, will sit out for the rest of season due to injury.
Scouting the Toreros
Santa Clara leads the all-time record against San Diego 31-12-4, with the first match occurring in 1981 between the two teams. Last season, the Broncos topped the Toreros twice with a 1-0 win in overtime on Oct. 4 and a 2-0 win to close out the 2013 season on Nov. 14.
The Toreros edged the Broncos on Oct. 5 this season by a score of 2-1. San Diego scored first in the 21st minute off the head of Josh Cintas. Dave Musambi put a nice move on the defense and chipped the ball over the goalkeeper to Cintas who headed the ball into the goal for the 1-0 Torero lead. In the 25th minute, San Diego's left back Parker Price took the ball down the field and past the Santa Clara defense. As he got into the box he finished to the near post to put San Diego up 2-0. The Broncos cut the deficit to one in the 72nd minute on a goal from Eneme. Rocha sent a pass into the box of Eneme who headed the ball into the left side of the goal and past the goalkeeper.
USD is recently coming off of two road victories this past weekend. They beat Gonzaga 2-0 and topped Portland, 2-0, putting the Toreros at the top of the WCC leaderboard.
The Toreros have outscored their opponents 8-1 in the four conference matches. They have outscored opponents 24-15 with a .467 shots on goal percentage. Connor Brandt leads the team with five goals, four assists and 14 points. Torrey DeArmas also has 5 goals, tallying 11 points. Eight other Toreros add to the offensive attack with scored goals.
Starting keeper Thomas Olsen has 32 saves on the season with a .696 save percentage. He has collected six shutouts this season.
Scouting the Lions
Santa Clara leads the all-time series 24-11-8 against Loyola Marymount with the first meeting happening in 1981. Last season, the Broncos fell twice to the Lions, who then became the 2013 WCC Championships. LMU was slated to win the conference once again this year in the 2014 Preseason Poll.
The Broncos and the Lions drew to a 1-1 score in Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 3 this season. The host team outshot Santa Clara 17-6 while putting six on frame to the Bronco's four. Santa Clara put the first one in the back of the net in the 16th minute when Delgadillo found Ornstil open in the middle of the box. Ornstil tallied his second goal of the year when he beat the LMU keeper with his shot to the left corner. Santa Clara went into the half leading LMU 1-0, but the Lions fought hard on their home turf. Craig Nitti was able to convert a penalty kick in the 81st minute to tie the match.
Most recently, the Lions are coming off of another draw, which ended 0-0 with Gonzaga on Nov. 3. LMU's 7-4-5 overall record has gone 313 minutes without a Lion's goal.
LMU has outscored opponents 25-12 and boasts a .431 shots on goal percentage. Sebastian De Rada leads the team with five goals, five assists and 15 points while attempting 39 shots this season. Adrien Perez also has 14 points, tallying five goals and four assists. Nitti rounds out the Lion's offense with five goal of his own and 11 points. Eight other Lions have scored goals this season.
Both goalkeepers Vince Paldino and Paul Blanchette have split time in the net this year. Paldino tallies five shutouts with a .895 save percentage, while Blanchette has three shutouts and a .795 save percentage.
GAME NOTES – Fri., Oct. 31, 2014
Santa Clara vs. San Diego in San Diego, Calif. @ 7 p.m. (Torero Stadium)
COVERAGE: Live Stats | TheW.tv
GAME NOTES – Sun., Nov. 2, 2014
LMU vs. Santa Clara in Santa Clara, Calif. @ 2 p.m. (Buck Shaw Stadium)
COVERAGE: Live Stats | TheW.tv
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