Women's soccer claims No. 1 seed

By Chris Furnari

Despite a loss to Cal in one of the last two regular season games, the women's soccer team finally earned the NCAA tournament No. 1 seed, which had eluded them in years past.

The Broncos (15-4-1) will square off against the University of Southern California Trojans (10-4-5) in their first game of the tournament, which will be held Friday at 4 p.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium.

The Broncos received one of the four top seeds and will be making their 18th consecutive tournament appearance. The Broncos are also fresh off a road win over St. Mary's, and the West Coast Conference championship after Portland tied in their last match, giving the Broncos the edge in points.

"I think we were deserving of a No. 1 seed," said head coach Jerry Smith. "Happily we were seeded No. 1 in our group and we are looking forward to our first game."

Smith, however, was prepared for a No. 2 seed after the late season debacle in Berkeley threatened the team's chances of receiving a top spot in the bracket.

"We are always a little anxious about the NCAA tournament draw," said Smith. "There were a lot of teams deserving of a No. 1 seed."

Smith knew however that in recent years, the tournament seeding committee had been unkind to the Broncos.

Aware of this, Smith approached the selection with less anticipation than in the past.

"I prepared myself for a No. 2 seed today," said Smith.

Ultimately, the Broncos strength of schedule, arguably one of the toughest in the nation, and their wins over UCLA, Portland and Texas were the main factors for their No. 1 seed.

Should the Broncos win on Friday, they will face the winner of the Stanford-Nevada match-up. This game will take place at Buck Shaw Stadium on Sunday at 7 p.m.

The Broncos are a confident bunch heading into the tournament, especially because during the first four rounds they will not leave Buck Shaw Stadium, where they are undefeated this year. The women's team also holds the nation's longest streak of reaching at least the quarterfinals, which they've done each of the past 11 years.

Assuming the Broncos make it out of their bracket and reach the national semifinals for the first time since 2004, they could potentially run into Notre Dame, who knocked them out of the tournament that season. In 2004, Notre Dame then went on to win the national championship. This season, the Fighting Irish have a strong record at 20-0-1.

One of those Irish victories came over the Broncos in early September by a score of 3-1. Though the Broncos are arguably a much better team now than at that early season meeting, the Irish pose the greatest threat to the Broncos' chances of winning the national championship, something that Santa Clara hasn't done since 2001.

According to soccer analysts on ESPN, the Broncos are supposed to have the toughest route to the finals, where as the undefeated Irish team is said to have the easiest.

Smith, however, is advising his team to focus on the next game before thinking about others.

"Once the game starts on Friday, seeding doesn't matter", said Smith. "We are optimistic about our chances, but we'll be ready for battle."

An athletic Trojan squad looks to spoil the Broncos' hopes of advancing, as they've done in the past. In 2003, the Trojans defeated the Broncos 3-0. This season, USC is led by senior midfielder Rosa Anna Tantillo, who leads the team with 19 total points and five goals and will be a crucial factor in Friday's match-up.

Santa Clara will rely heavily on senior Marian Dalmy and junior Meagan Snell, who leads the squad with 11 goals and 25 total points.

The Broncos are also looking to past experience to help them formulate an edge in this year's tournament.

"We played through adversity last year, being on the road," said junior Brittany Klein. "The experience definitely helped us even though we get to play a lot this year at home."

Conference foe Portland, the defending national champion, is not one of the top 16 seeds. This is the first time that a defending champion has failed to be seeded.

Contact Chris Furnari at (408) 551-1918 or cfurnari@scu.edu.