The reach of the Santa Clara University women's soccer program spreads far and wide.

From conference championships and national titles, national team members and World Cup winners, and professional players competing all over the globe.

And now, that reach can be seen just around the block.

A quartet of Santa Clara women's soccer alumnae have succeeded in bringing even more high-profile women's soccer to the South Bay. Announced this month, former Broncos Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton and Aly Wagner are celebrating the awarding of an NWSL team to the Bay Area, which looks to begin playing at PayPal Park in 2024, just within earshot of the Santa Clara University campus and Stevens Stadium.

"This is so exciting for Santa Clara University and the women's soccer program," said Santa Clara University women's soccer head coach Jerry Smith, "and for me personally, to have coached all four women here at the university. For all four of them to have played for the U.S. National Team and Olympics and World Cups, and won gold medals and World Cups, is really fascinating and exciting.

"I've learned with these four women to not set boundaries," added Smith. "I'm done predicting what they can do because whatever I predict, they do far better than any prediction I could've made. I'm in awe of them individually and collectively, it's an extremely powerful group that seems to have limitless potential, and that's pretty exciting on so many different levels."

FROM THE BEGINNING

Santa Clara University women's soccer has had close ties to professional women's teams in the Bay Area since the beginning.

All four of the Broncos alumnae responsible for bringing the new NWSL team to the South Bay have experience playing in the two previous iterations of professional women's soccer leagues in the U.S. – the Women's United Soccer Association, and Women's Professional Soccer.

The Bay Area had teams in both leagues. Chastain played on each of them, first as a founding player in the WUSA as a member of the San Jose CyberRays from 2001-03. She then played for FC Gold Pride in the WPS' inaugural season of 2009.

Osborne was also on that first FC Gold Pride team in the Bay Area in 2009. Slaton was the first overall draft pick in the WUSA's second year and earned the league's Defender of the Year award as a member of the Carolina Courage. Wagner was also a No. 1 pick in the 2003 WUSA draft.

"It's wonderful to see the league expanding to 14 teams, it's wonderful to see the league thriving economically," said Smith of the NWSL. "This is our third different league and we've had a Bay Area team in all three leagues. The Bay Area team has always done well, but the league hasn't always done well. But now, unlike the first two leagues – we got in on day one in the first two leagues – now we're going into a league that's been around for 10 years and they've established themselves."

EXTENDING THE LEGACY

Chastain, Osborne, Slaton and Wagner are already part of Broncos lore, helping build – and keep going – the Santa Clara University women's soccer program's long history.

And now they've teamed up again – this time as executives in board rooms – to once again earn a victory for Santa Clara and Bay Area soccer fans alike.

"This is a monumental occasion," said Chastain to the Mercury News earlier this month. "The impact that women's soccer specifically is having on the sports landscape and business sector is something that we've been talking about for so long and we believed in. To see it coming back to the Bay is truly incredible."

Among the mountain of individual accolades – All-Americans, all-region, all-conference, Honda Awards, player of the year nods, hall of fame inductions… the list goes on and on – and team titles collected by Chastain, Osborne, Slaton and Wagner, it's easy to find inspiration in what the quartet did on the pitch. But what about now, as leaders?

"I know from a very first-hand experience how awesome these four women are," said Smith. "They are awesome in every category: They're awesome players, they're awesome ambassadors, they're awesome representatives of the university and our soccer program. They are go-getters. They're entrepreneurs. They're extremely bright. They're extremely driven. When these four women all pull in the same direction, that's a pretty good team.

"I'm excited for them and really, it's so wonderful to see them achieving things that none of us even thought were possible. I remember Brandi dreaming of playing in World Cups and Olympics before there were World Cups and Olympics for women, and now to see them being founding members of a pro women's soccer team, you can only start to imagine about how awesome it's going to be."

"It's really inspiring and it's so awesome for our program," said current sophomore midfielder Colby Barnett. "These women, Jerry raves about them all the time, as he should – they're amazing, super successful, crazy talented – and it is so awesome to see what they've worked for and what they've been able to do with this team and all their hard work has seemed to pay off. Just having women like that to look up to from our program is really awesome."

"That's super awesome," added freshman forward Farrah Walters. "It's inspiring because they've obviously gone through this program and Jerry's coached them and I'm getting the same exact coaching, so why couldn't I go do that one day?"

"This group doesn't set out to do anything average," Wagner said to the Mercury News. "This group, this collective group, if we're not winning, we're doing something wrong. And so we want to entertain but we want to bring championships to the Bay Area. We want to put out, on the field, a product that the communities of the Bay Area can be proud of."

NEIGHBORING PRESTIGE

The Santa Clara University women's soccer program has established itself among the elite.

It was only mere months ago that the Broncos won their third consecutive WCC title and made the program's 32nd appearance in the NCAA Tournament. They hosted a first-round NCAA Tournament game and advance to the Round of 32 in thrilling fashion, beating another strong Bay Area program in Cal along the way.

The Broncos also already have close ties with the NWSL. Last season's leading scorer and West Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Izzy D'Aquila was drafted by the Portland Thorns in the first round. She was the Broncos' seventh NWSL draft pick in the last five years.

And now, with the NWSL moving in down the street, the level of women's soccer prestige in the area gets cranked up even higher.

"It's super exciting because of how real it is," said Walters about a new NWSL team coming to the Bay Area. "We always hear about, 'Oh what if there was an NWSL team in the Bay,' and literally being five miles away, I think that's just inspiring, and it makes me think I can actually play professionally because it's right in my backyard."

"Great that it's coming to the Bay Area," said Smith. "I think women's soccer is continuing to gain momentum nationally and internationally. I think this is such a great market here for sports. We have a lot of sports teams, and the challenge for the Bay Area (NWSL) team will be to compete for the sports entertainment dollar in a market that already has a lot of great sports teams.

"But this is women's sports and we don't have any professional women's sports teams playing in the top league, so this'll be women's soccer at the very highest level. I think the Bay Area is ready for it, and I'm really excited about having a team in our backyard."

"It's really cool," said freshman midfielder Annie Karich. "I feel like it's important for young girls to have a professional team in the area where they grew up. Just being able to go watch and have these women inspire them. I think that it's nice to go right in your backyard and watch these women that inspire you and are where you potentially want to be. Having a team up here, this is a big soccer area, especially in the women's game, and I think that it'll be game-changing for a lot of these girls."

Barnett added to the current Broncos' excitement about the new team by saying, "It is awesome. Before the last couple of years, there hasn't been any California NWSL teams, and now we have three, and having one across the street from our school is just absolutely amazing."

And so, with professional women's soccer returning to the Bay Area, the circle becomes complete again – the Broncos win championships, garner accolades, and send great student-athletes to the professional ranks, then await in eager expectation for their return to Santa Clara to be champions once again.

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