Women's soccer begins title defense
By Josh Griffin
The Santa Clara women's soccer team is approaching the end of their year-long reign as defending national champions. Their quest to prolong the euphoria begins Friday, as the Broncos take on Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 7:30 p.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium.
This year the Broncos carry a bull's eye on their collective backs as not only one of the nation's outstanding teams, but also as the defending national champions. Every opponent will look at Santa Clara as their biggest obstacle in pursuit of the 2002 College Cup.
"We have been facing the challenge [of being defending national champions] all year, and we know that we have to be as 'up' for each opponent as they are to be playing the defending national champions," said sophomore defender Jessica Ballweg.
While some may consider playing the role of defending champs and number one target to all opponents a negative, the Broncos welcome the challenge.
"All of us, especially the upperclassmen, are a lot happier being the target of others than still chasing after the championship," said Ballweg. "We know it is another major challenge for us, and I think we are up to it."
Whether or not Santa Clara is up to the challenge will depend on numerous factors beyond being a favorite, including their opposition and locale of future matches. If they defeat Creighton, who finished the year 12-7-2 and won the Missouri Valley Conference postseason tournament, Santa Clara will face either Arizona St. or Washington St. Both are at-large bids out of the Pac-10 conference, and both are nationally ranked by at least one poll. The Sun Devils are ranked 25th in Soccer America magazine, while the Cougars finished the season 24th in Soccer Buzz.
"If we win on Friday, we know that both Arizona St. and Washington St. are very tough opponents," said head coach Jerry Smith. "The thing that I pay attention to most is how well a team is playing at the end of a season. Both Arizona St. and Washington St. have performed very well to close out their season."
Beyond the first two rounds and assuming that all seeds hold, in order to get to the College Cup, Santa Clara will have to face third-seeded Pepperdine, an upstart program that within the last two years has cracked the upper echelon of West Coast Conference teams. Santa Clara has struggled against Pepperdine in the last two years, losing both of their matches over that period.
However, much of the struggles that Santa Clara has had in playing Pepperdine are affiliated with the small dimensions of Tari Frahm Rokus Field, the home of the Waves. The limited size of the field negates the effectiveness of the Broncos' ball control soccer that has made them so successful over the years. To host tournament soccer, each school must submit a bid to the NCAA, and as Pepperdine is not hosting their first and second round games as the tournament's third overall seed, it is not clear as to whether or not they have submitted a bid.
"Pepperdine may not have even bid to host NCAA Tournament games," said Smith. "The NCAA bases their decisions to allow schools to host on the size of the field, the ability to control a crowd and the ability to put people in seats."
The team is happy with one outcome of the selection show that differs from last year, when the team had to play their first two rounds in Illinois despite the fact that they held the tournament's second seed. This year, they host the first two rounds, and in the case that Pepperdine is either upset in the first two rounds or is not granted host status by the NCAA, Santa Clara will host every game leading up to the College Cup.
"One of our goals all season has been to win enough games to place in the top eight seeds," Smith said. "We have earned that, and we may be fortunate enough to host the next two rounds even if all of the top eight survive. That's all that we can ask for."
In order to overcome the challenge of being the targeted team, Santa Clara cannot overlook any of their opposition.
"Our focus is on the game Friday," said senior All-American midfielder Aly Wagner. "We must take every game one at a time."
Nonetheless, the team has luxuries that it was not afforded last year, when they ended up as national champions. In spite of entering the tournament as a sixth seed, as opposed to last year's second seed, the ultimate goal is home field advantage.
"Of course we would love to be ranked higher, but when the seeds are released our main goal is really just to be able to play at home," said Wagner. "We consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to play on our home field and in front of our great fans. We are going to need all of their support to advance in the playoffs."
This team has proven before that they can overcome undesirable tournament circumstances, and starting Friday, they hope to do so again.