Soccer teams aspire to repeat NCAA Tourney berths

By Adam Harper

The Santa Clara men's and women's soccer teams are both coming off of excellent seasons, with the men making it into the NCAA College Cup semifinals and the women into the quarterfinals. The men finished with a higher national ranking than the women for the first time since 1991, yet the women have finished in the top 10 of the national polls in each of the past 15 years.

Both teams anticipate being in contention for the national title in 2004. The women will lose only four players to graduation and are welcoming one of the top-ranked recruiting classes in the nation. Their 2003 recruiting class was ranked No. 1 out of all Division I schools.

The men will lose two juniors to the MLS and six overall, yet they have nine returning players coming back next year. Three of their recruits were invited to the Adidas ESP, an invitational to showcase the top 150 prep players in the country as voted on by college coaches. Three of the recruits played for Bellarmine Prep, which won the National Championship with a 25-0-0 record.

While each team won the WCC this year, this marks the fourth time since 1992 that both teams won the conference. Yet only the women have brought home the national title during that time. The last time the men celebrated winning a national title was in 1989 when they had to split the championship with Virginia.

During the last five seasons, Santa Clara has gone 12-0 in NCAA Regional play at home and are a combined 21-4-0 all-time in postseason play at Buck Shaw Stadium.

So which team's 2004 season will culminate with the ESPN nationally-televised championship game? Or do both teams have the pieces in place to make a historic run for Santa Clara? The chart on the right is an offseason overview for both squads.

û Contact Adam Harper at (408) 554-4852 or aharper@scu.edu.