SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's soccer hit the road for the final time this Saturday when they travel to Spokane, Washington to face Gonzaga at Luger Field in a West Coast Conference match. The kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. PT, having been pushed out by an hour due to a schedule change.
The Broncos (8-6-1, 2-3 WCC) have a 4-3 record away from home this season but are looking for their first conference road win against the Zags who are 1-3 at home. Gonzaga has had a tough season going 3-10-1 overall but sports an identical 2-3 conference record as the Broncos, tying for the fourth best record behind first place Saint Mary's and LMU (5-0) and third place Portland (3-2).
THE BULLDOGS (3-10-1, 2-3 WCC)
Head coach Paul Meehan is in his second season at the helm where he has a 5-24-3 record and seventh overall with the program.
The Zags average 0.86 goals per game and concede 1.93 goals per game and are getting outshot by five shots per game (9.3 to 14.3).
Demetrius Kigeya and Theo O'Malley leads the team with three goals each. Kigeya also has an assist to put him atop the team lead in points with seven to go along with 30 shots, by far the most on the team by 13.
Goalkeeper Johan Garibay has started in all 14 matches, playing in every single minute to post a .658 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY
Santa Clara leads the series 22-10-4. The Broncos won last season's meeting at home, 3-1.
THE BRONCOS (8-6-1, 2-3 WCC)
Badenes Mecho already has five clean sheets to his credit as defensively, the Broncos have kept the opposition under a single goal in all but three matches this season.
The 2019 campaign marks the 18th season at the helm for Santa Clara head coach Cam Rast who leads a squad that returns 23 players including three All-West Coast Conference honorees from a team that finished 5-10-2.
Nineteen of the returners saw action last season with 13 of them appearing in double digit matches to account for 80 percent of its goals and all of its assists.
Junior
Javier Ruiz Duran led the team in goals (six) and assists (five) to earn All-WCC Second Team recognition along with senior
Miles Robinson who scored four and assisted on three. Sophomore
Eduardo Lopez Perez tallied a pair of goals and was named to the WCC All-Freshman team.
Redshirt junior
Henning Jolivet brings the most experience between the woodwork playing in seven matches last season to finish with a 3-3-1 record and a 1.89 goals against average.
NOTES
1989 National Championship - 30th Anniversary
• Santa Clara men's soccer celebrated their 30th anniversary of the 1989 National Championship this season. Members of the 1989 squad was recognized during halftime of the Oct. 12 match against Saint Mary's during Grand Reunion weekend. Current coaches Cam Rast and Eric Yamamoto were on the 1989 championship squad (video courtesy WCC).
Live Stream
• All Bronco home matches and West Coast Conference road matches are streamed live on the WCC Network with David Gentile doing the play-by-play for the home matches.
Broncos Team Information
• Twenty-three players return from the 2018 squad that finished with an overall record of 5-10-2 (1-5-1 in the West Coast Conference).
• Nineteen players with playing experience return including 13 who played 10 or more games last season.
Class Breakdown
Across the Globe
• The Bronco roster fields a squad composed of player hometowns from eight states and five countries.
o States: California, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington
o Countries: Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain, United States
All-West Coast Conference
United Soccer Coaches All-West Region
2019 Exhibition Matches
• Freshman goalkeeper
Guillem Badenes Mecho played in 135 of 180 minutes including starting the Sacramento State game.
Season Openers
• With the win against Holy Cross, Broncos head coach Cam Rast is 10-8 including 5-4 at home in season openers.
Firsts
Goals
• Senior
Sam Agosti and sophomore
Martin Aasen tallied their first goals as a Bronco in the season opener (Aug. 30) against Holy Cross.
• Junior
Terrell Smith scored his first career goal against San Diego State (Sept. 14).
• Junior
Isaac Addai scored his first career goal against Lipscomb (Sept. 27).
• Sophomore
Alejandro Barajas scored his first career goal against Evansville (Sept. 29).
Assists
• Redshirt sophomore
Presten Manthey had his first career assists (two) against San Jose State (Sept. 6).
• Sophomore
Sakari Carter had his first career assist against San Diego State (Sept. 14).
• Sophomore
Alejandro Perez recorded his first career assist against Lipscomb (Sept. 27).
• Sophomore
Emil Christensen recorded his first career assist against Evansville (Sept. 29).
Starts
• Redshirt freshman
Presten Manthey made his first Bronco start against San Jose State (Sept. 6).
• Freshman
Damani Osei made his first Bronco start against Utah Valley (Sept. 19).
Bronco Debuts
• Freshman
Damani Osei made his Bronco debut coming off the bench against Missouri State (Sept. 2).
Shutous
• Badenes Mecho recorded his first career shutout against Holy Cross (Aug. 30). He was also credited with shutouts in three straight matches against Lipscomb (Sept. 27), Evansville (Sept. 29) and CSUN (Oct. 5). He also shutout San Francisco (Oct. 30) for his fifth of the season.
Starting XI
• Alex Achramowicz started in the first two matches (vs. Holy Cross on Aug. 30 and Missouri State on Sept. 2).
• Alan Camacho Soto started against Holy Cross on Aug. 30, Missouri State on Sept. 2 and San Diego State on Sept. 14.
•
Nate Shue started against San Jose State (Sept. 6), Grand Canyon (Sept. 8) and San Diego State (Sept. 14).
• Presten Manthey started against San Jose State (Sept. 6) and Grand Canyon (Sept. 8).
• Isaac Addai started for the first time this season against Portland (Oct. 26).
• Sam Agosti started for the first time this season against San Francisco (Oct. 30).
Spreading the Wealth
Game-Winners
• All three of
Javier Ruiz Duran's goals this season have been game-winners (vs. San Jose State on Sept. 6, at CSUN on Oct. 5, and vs. San Francisco on Oct. 30).
Steady D
• Santa Clara has five shutouts on the season thus far, the most since 2015 when the Broncos played in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Broncos have held opponents to one goal or less in all but three matches this season. After the opening day shutout against Holy Cross, the Broncos allowed one goal in each of the subsequent six matches followed by three straight shutouts before giving up a season-high two goals against then-No. 8 Saint Mary's (Oct. 12). They also conceded two goals against Portland (Oct. 26) and LMU (Nov. 2).
• The last time the Broncos posted shutouts in three-straight matches was back in 2012 when they shut out NJIT (Sept. 21), San Diego (Sept. 28) and LMU (Sept. 30).
• During the three-match shutout streak, the Broncos held their opponents scoreless for 349 straight minutes until the first half goal by Saint Mary's Joseph Restani on Oct. 12.
National Ranking
• Goalkeeper
Guillem Badenes Mecho is ranked 24th in the country in goals-against-average with .812. The freshman has five clean sheets on the season and has given up only 11 goals in 14 matches spanning 1219 minutes of action.
Home, then away
• Santa Clara started its season with a five-match homestand, followed by five straight matches on the road before starting West Coast Conference play at home on Oct. 12.
• The team finished with a 2-2-1 record in the homestand and 4-1 on the road trip.
Road Warriors
• The Broncos have a 4-3 record away from home including 4-2 in true road games. They lost a neutral site match in Las Vegas against Utah Valley, 1-0, on Sept. 19.
• Santa Clara had its four-match road win streak snapped at Portland (Oct. 26).
Two Goals Equal a Win
• In seven of their eight wins this season, the Broncos have scored two or more goals. The only exception was the 1-0 win over San Francisco (Oct. 30).
Close Margins
• Four of the six Bronco losses this season have been by a one goal margin. The first three were 1-0 losses to Missouri State (Sept. 2), Grand Canyon (Sept. 8) and Utah Valley (Sept. 19) before losing 2-1 to Saint Mary's (Oct. 12).
• The Broncos lost by a two goals for the first time this season against Portland (Oct. 26) and also against LMU (Nov. 2).
Attendance
• The home match against Saint Mary's (Oct. 12) drew a crowd of 1,514, for the biggest SCU men's soccer crowd at Stevens Stadium since 2007 when 2,487 fans attended the third round of the NCAA tournament against Notre Dame game on Dec. 1. It was the biggest regular season crowd since Oct. 21, 2007 when Santa Clara played Gonzaga infront of 1,618 fans.
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