Soccer rallying for winning streak
By Justin Phan
The women's soccer team has found itself in a precarious situation midway through West Coast Conference play. For the first time in 19 years, the Broncos are in danger of not qualifying for the NCAA tournament.
"It's kind of frustrating, and I feel bad just because this would be the first time in so long if we don't qualify," junior Tri-captain Katherine Reynolds said. "Especially as a captain, I sometimes feel like we're not carrying on the Santa Clara tradition, which is just disappointing. It's just a little bit sad."
Santa Clara is tied for fourth place in the WCC with a record of 1-1-1.
Because the Broncos' overall record stands at just 4-9-3, it is unlikely that the team will advance to the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid.
Earning an automatic bid by winning the WCC appears to be the only possible route.
Anything is possible if the women can put together an impressive run to close conference play, but standing in Santa Clara's way are No. 3 Portland (13-1-0 overall and 3-0 in WCC) and No. 18 San Diego (11-3-2 overall and 3-0 in WCC).
For freshman Jenny LaPonte, this season has come as somewhat of a surprise.
"I came into the program just expecting to go to the tournament, just expecting to win," LaPonte said. "I mean, we're Santa Clara. And then everything starts going wrong, and it's like 'We're Santa Clara, this doesn't happen to us.'"
"It's eye-opening, and now every player matters. It's a lot more pressure on everyone, and being Santa Clara, it's going to be a major upset if we don't get in. But hopefully things will start swinging our way."
Everything has seemingly gone wrong for the Broncos thus far, beginning with season-ending injuries for Jordan Angeli and Amanda Poach before the season even started.
Both have been key contributors to the team, specifically in 2006 when Angeli was named All-WCC Honorable Mention and Poach was named to the All-WCC First Team.
The Broncos' streak of bad luck continued in recent weeks as the injury bug bit the team again.
Junior tri-captain Kiki Bosio tore her lateral collateral ligament, while redshirt junior Courtney Lewis and redshirt sophomore Lindsey Johnson both suffered season-ending torn ACLs.
Bosio's injury is not as bad as expected, and will not require surgery, said Head Coach Jerry Smith, but he will keep a watchful eye on her progress nonetheless.
"We'll be ultra-careful with her going forward and only play her if there's little or no risk of further damage," Smith explained.
"I think that the healing time probably puts her up against the end of our season. The chances are probably remote that she'll get back out there," he said.
Still, history is on Santa Clara's side, and the parallels of this year to the 2000 season are undeniable.
In 2000, the Broncos started off the season on a similar note, highlighted by a 6-1 loss against Notre Dame and a 4-2 loss to Saint Mary's at home. The Broncos entered WCC play in fifth place that year, but rallied to beat Cal Poly, UC Berkeley and BYU to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
The women's team will look to write a similar story this year, hoping to bounce back and come up big down the stretch when it matters the most.
"We need to continue working hard," Reynolds said. "Hopefully, with the win on Sunday the team will feel more confident about our potential and our ability to play good soccer."
"Hopefully with that we'll start playing better as a team," she said.
Smith knows the importance of keeping composure.
"It's important that we don't push the panic button," he said. "We're going to stay the course and like they did in 2000, everything will end up working out. We have our best soccer in front of us."
The Broncos will begin a three-game road trip starting with games Friday against Loyola Marymount and Sunday against Pepperdine.
"Any time you play conference games on the road it's very tough," Smith explained.
"Conference games are just so important. Every team in the conference is fighting. All that spells is a challenging weekend, one that hopefully the girls can step up and respond."
Contact Justin Phan at jphan1@scu.edu.