Santa Clara fall sports preview
By Ryan Donough, Cecile Nguyen, Nicholas Pinkerton and Chris Furnari
Men's Soccer
The Santa Clara men's soccer team will begin their season with high aspirations of advancing into the later rounds of the 2007 NCAA tournament.
"We have some really solid seniors that provide great leadership and experience with a very good core of guys in the under classes, with juniors, sophomores and freshmen all contributing," Head Coach Cameron Rast said.
After losing 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament last season to Wake Forest, Rast and his staff went about bringing in new talent that are ready to contribute now, most notably 2006-2007 Gatorade California High School Player Of The Year Jalil Anibaba.
"Anibaba is a tremendous talent and is playing a lot of minutes for us right now -- starting for us -- and someone we have great expectations for," said Rast.
The Broncos also return veteran leadership in seniors Peter Lowry, Jamil Roberts and Matt Hatzke.
Despite improvements in the roster, the Broncos have a tough road ahead of them with top 25 teams Cal, Brown, UCLA and San Francisco on their schedule.
Currently, the Broncos are ranked No. 7 in the nation after victories over Vermont and Boston University and ties against local rivals Stanford and California.
The Broncos' ultimate goal is to make it the NCAA Tournament and make a serious run at a championship, which has always been the standard that Rast expects each year.
"Our season goals are pretty much the same every year. We definitely want to be playing our best soccer at the end of the year," he said.
Women's Soccer
After defeating then-No. 2 Notre Dame 7-1 earlier this season, the Santa Clara women's soccer team is on the right track to defend their West Coast Conference title.
The Broncos scored seven goals against a Fighting Irish team that allowed only five goals during their entire regular season last year.
"Typically not too many goals are scored against a good team like Notre Dame," Head Coach Jerry Smith said. "Our team is in pretty good shape now, but it's still early."
The Broncos, who currently have a limited roster due to key injuries, consider themselves to be underdogs in the WCC this year.
"We're underdogs; the odds are against us with a smaller roster," Smith explained. "Every single player has to try to make a difference."
The Broncos will face tough WCC competition, as well as difficult matchups versus other nationally ranked programs.
"We have a difficult conference," Smith added. "Portland's always a difficult team to play. This year we have to play on their field. It's not going to be an easy match, but we're very positive about this season."
Repeating as conference champions is the main goal for the Broncos this season; however, getting there might be a struggle.
"Yeah, expectations are high," said forward Kiki Bosio. "But we set our own expectations, and we set them very high."
The Broncos must remain healthy in order to achieve their goal of repeating as conference champions. With five players already out for the season, they can't afford any more injuries.
"This will be a challenging season," Smith said. "With the training, we will be playing our best at the end of the season, but the question is, 'Will we have enough healthy bodies?' "
Smith will be depending on his seniors -- especially captains Brittany Klein, Jordan Angeli, and redshirt senior Tina Estrada -- to lead the team and to keep the younger players focused.
According to Smith, the Broncos will also rely heavily on contributions from their freshman class, a contingent that will be critical for success.
"All of the freshmen are great players," Bosio said. "Anessa (Patton) and Kendra (Perry) started for us against Notre Dame."
The Broncos will look to improve on the disappointing conclusion to their 2006 season, as they were ousted in the first round of the NCAA tournament by USC.
Men's Water Polo
For water polo Head Coach Keith Wilbur and the Broncos, the focus of each season is on winning their conference championship.
"Our goal every year is to win conference," said Wilbur.
The road to this year's conference championship will be difficult for the Broncos, as a daunting schedule may present obstacles on the road to victory.
Among the Broncos' toughest competition are top conference opponents such as UC Davis and UC San Diego, and non-conference opponents such as UCLA and Cal.
At the NorCal Open last weekend, the Broncos were no match for UCLA, losing 15-4, but did manage to hang tough against UC Davis, losing 8-6.
"If we can play a close game with UC Davis, I believe we can play like that throughout the season," said captain Robert Callahan, the team's starting goaltender.
For Wilbur, the key to success this season will rest in the players, new and old, filling important roles on the team in its quest for a championship.
Having a cohesive unit that can effectively score goals and make defensive stops will be especially important for what has been an inconsistent offense thus far.
"Getting that clicking and getting that consistency is what's going to propel our offense later this season," said Callahan.
Volleyball
With the season already halfway underway, the Broncos will look to step up their current level of play for WCC competition.
The Broncos are currently on a three-game losing streak, dropping matches to Cal, UC Santa Barbara and Notre Dame.
Despite the setbacks, the Broncos are remaining positive.
"We all are trying to remind ourselves that it is still early in the season," said senior Anna Cmaylo, who is redshirting. "We are training to peak right in time for the WCC tournament so we always have that in our heads."
The Broncos' goal for the season is to win the WCC tournament and advance into the NCAA tournament. The Broncos reached the NCAA Final Four in 2005 and would love to get back to that stage.
"I think we have the potential to win WCC and advance through the NCAA tournament," said Cmaylo. "That's always the goal," she added.
While Santa Clara is currently in last place among WCC schools, the standings are based on overall record. The Broncos have faced four top 15 teams already this season, competition which they believe will help them later in the season.
"I think when we play tougher teams during preseason, it prepares us for some of the competition we will face in the tournament," said junior Brittany Lowe.
Men's and Women's Cross Country
The men's and women's cross country teams hope to finish among the WCC elite in 2007, and perhaps even secure a championship on the women's side.
"I really think we can do that," said Adriane Puetz, a senior on the team.
While the women's team believes it can climb the ladder over higher-ranked teams such as San Francisco, Portland and Loyola Marymount, the men's team hopes to finish toward the top -- behind Portland, who holds the nation's record for longest conference championship streak.
Head Coach Tom Service said that while both teams must be realistic with their goals, they are confident that this season could be the best in recent years. After defeating the Dons at the USF Invitational, the men have their minds set on a strong second place finish in the conference.
The men's team will be led by Senior Mike Delaurenti, who finished first in the USF Invitational in early September.
In preparation for this season, both teams increased the number of miles they run weekly.
According to Puetz, some of the women ran up to 75 miles per week, including herself. They did, however, make sure to take a day off when necessary.
"You have to listen to your body," she added.
The men also increased the length of their runs. In the case of the more experienced runners like Delaurenti, they logged up to 100 miles each week.
"They're able to tolerate that after four years," said Coach Service.
The results have paid off for runners such as Puetz and Delaurenti.
The previous weekend, at the Sundodger Invitational, Puetz and Delaurenti posted excellent individual times.
Puetz finished the 6K women's race in 21:25, a Santa Clara record for that course. She finished seventh out of all runners. Delaurenti finished 23rd in a talented field with an 8K time of 24:43.
The younger runners also performed well at the Sundodger Invitational.
Freshman Melissa Conlin finished the 6K with a time of 22:08, and freshman Chris Sampson finished just 25 seconds behind Delaurenti.
Most impressively, the men's team set a school record for fastest race time for an 8K event.
"I think we have amazing talent (on both teams)," said Puetz. "We're pretty much on the same level."
Coach Service said Puetz and Delaurenti's performances positively affect the team morale.
"They're perfect models of what we want," he said.
Contact the sports staff at (408) 551-1918 or sports@thesantaclara.com.