Squads remain undefeated in WCC

By Blake Twisselman

Two teams, zero conference losses.

With less than two weeks remaining in the West Coast Conference soccer season, the Santa Clara men's and women's soccer programs are displaying their dominance.

Both teams are ranked fourth in the national polls, unbeaten in conference, and can clinch WCC championships with wins this weekend.

After defeating the defending national champion Portland Pilots last weekend in double-overtime, the women's squad (5-0-1 in conference) looks to clinch the conference championship with a win this weekend at Gonzaga.

"Beating Portland was huge for many reasons," said Head Coach Jerry Smith. "Now we control our own destiny, and if we win against Gonzaga we'll achieve our goal of being conference champions."

Although Santa Clara defeated Gonzaga 6-0 last year, and 10-0 in 2001, they expect a much tougher game this Saturday in the frigid air of Spokane, Wash.

"The last two years we've killed them so we've never really taken them that seriously," said junior midfielder Leslie Osborne, about Gonzaga. "This year I'm nervous but I'm excited too, because they've got nothing to lose and they'll give it everything they've got."

The Bulldogs are 3-3 in conference play this season. They are riding a three-game winning streak against Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and San Diego, in which they outscored those three opponents 6-0.

"The Zags are an improved team this year," added Smith. "Plus this will be their last game of the year so they'll put down a great performance and won't go down easily. [Gonzaga Head Coach] Shannon Stiles played for me here, so she knows exactly what we're going to do and how we're going to play."

After a shaky start to the season, the Bronco women have had a record of 8-0-2 in their last 10 contests.

The team's sub-par record in the first half of the season was a reflection of experimentation and an overall learning process. Santa Clara's second-half success is proof that the players have found their roles and the pieces are in place for a run at the National Championship.

"Coach Smith doesn't really care if we win or lose early in the season," said junior Megan Kakadelas. "But later in the season our team is supposed to peak, and we need to be winning games in conference."

There is no doubt that Santa Clara has peaked in its six conference games, outscoring their WCC foes by a 15-3 margin.

"Early in the season we are all about experimentation with players in different positions and formations, so that we are comfortable when we get to the last part of the season," explained Smith. "I know we could have won more games earlier in the season, but we wouldn't have experimented and gotten the results we have now. We needed our players to think on their own and learn from their mistakes. I think we have proven to ourselves, to our coaches, to our players what will work best for us."

The Broncos helped prepare themselves for the tournament by playing a brutal non-conference schedule that included four top 10 teams. Santa Clara's big game experience should benefit them in the postseason.

"I think this is going to be a wide open tournament this year," said Smith. "But this tough schedule that we've played this year has helped prepare us. We've played many of the other top teams in the country. We're battle tested and ready for the NCAA Tournament."

The men's team has two games remaining on their schedule, but they can clinch the conference championship at Buck Shaw this Saturday with a win against San Diego. The Toreros had won 11 straight games before dropping last Sunday's game against the Portland Pilots.

"San Diego is an extremely big game for us because we can clinch the conference title," said junior defender Zach Knight. "And winning the conference is the only surefire way to make the tournament. Last year we were unable to get an at-large bid, so we really want to take care of business this weekend."

Last year's team failed to make the postseason despite a strong finish against conference competition.

The main reason for this season's success has been the team's ability to win the close games. Santa Clara has won seven games this season by a one-goal margin, and has won all but one of their games by less than a two-goal differential.

"Last year we had a good team, but this year we have something different," explained junior defender Ryan Cochrane. "We're finding ways to win those close games this year where last year we couldn't pull them out."

If the Broncos are going to make a run deep into the postseason, they are going to have to do it without star players Ryan Cochrane and Steve Cronin.

The two teammates are leaving for the United Arab Emirates the day before the postseason starts to compete for the Under-20 United States National Team.

"It's a little disappointing that we have to leave because our team has been playing so well this year," said Cochrane. "But we're going to represent our country so I can't be too disappointed. It's a little bittersweet."

Despite the losses of the two stars, the Broncos will try to compensate with their much-improved team depth.

"It's definitely going to be tough without them but we have an especially deep team this year," said senior defender Matt Upton. "It's gonna be weird not having Cochrane on the field, but we're not so dependant on him that we're not going to be able to win games without him. I think we have some younger guys who can fill that spot and are ready to get in there."

Kent Harkness will assume the goal-keeping duties for the Broncos. Despite his lack of playing time between the pipes this season, Harkness saw significant action last season while Cronin was training for the national team. Harkness posted two shutouts last season and accounted for two-thirds of the team's save total.

"Kent stepped in last year and did a really good job for us," said Cronin. "The team has a lot of confidence in him."

With the regular season coming to a close, both of Santa Clara's teams are looking poised and ready to capture the WCC title with unbeaten conference records, and make a long, memorable run into the NCAA Tournament.

Contact Blake Twisselman at (408) 554-4852 or at jtwisselman@scu.edu.