“What our players are doing is just remarkable.” In the past month, the Broncos have taken out Stanford, Georgetown, Wisconsin and Duke. Smith’s team, that he described as “bad-ass women” beat, in order, Ohio State, Arkansas, Clemson, North Carolina and Florida State.
The players have built a hard muscle of resilience and a well of confidence that helped them through a remarkable run of nine NCAA tournament victories against mighty opponents, eight of the games on the road.įive came at the end of last season’s stressful, disjointed pandemic season. See More Collapseīut, despite the odds, the Santa Clara team has embraced its David versus Goliath journey. Note: If BYU advances, the game will be moved to 5 p.m. Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith has seen the college sports landscape change dramatically in his 35 years with the Broncos and has feared the time for small programs and less powerful conferences might be passing.Īt Stevens Stadium, Santa Clara. Those schools are funneling money into women’s sports because of the dueling forces of huge football revenues and requirements for Title IX balance. Why not? Well, the answer is usually that those bigger schools, in Power 5 conferences, have more resources, more funding, more name recognition. Like Turnbow, Alex Loera (right) went in the NWSL draft. And we are also showing other teams that if Santa Clara can do it, a school that isn’t named Duke or UCLA or Stanford can. “Going against teams that are ranked higher, that have big-time names and more recognition, is a huge motivator for us,” said fifth-year senior Alex Loera. Now, the Broncos are trying to make it two championships in the space of half a year.Īnd in the process, turn conventional wisdom about college sports on its head. Santa Clara is the defending national champion, having won a pandemic-delayed title a little more than six months ago. If they win, they will play the winner of the Rutgers-Florida State semifinal in Sunday’s final. The Broncos return home to Stevens Stadium on Friday to host BYU in a semifinal of the Women’s College Cup. Those are just a few descriptors of the Santa Clara women’s soccer team and its remarkable 2021 journey.