Nebraska Takes On Santa Clara In Seventh Sweet 16 Appearance

The No. 18 Nebraska soccer team is excited about the opportunity to take on the defending national champions Santa Clara.  The Broncos are currently ranked sixth bythe  NSCAA and hold a No. 6 seeding in the 2002 NCAA Tournament.

 

Nebraska plays at Santa Clara at 1:30 p.m. CST Saturday at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. NU will provide live-streaming video on the internet at www.Huskers.com for the third round NCAA Tournament game and  live stats for the match can also be found by clicking on the link above.  Santa Clara will also provide live radio through the Bronco's website which can be accessed by clicking on the radio link above.

 

The Huskers reached their seventh consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 by sweeping Hartford, 2-0, and Yale, 1-0, in Villanova, Pa., last weekend.  NU began the weekend looking sluggish, as the Huskers fought to get their legs back under them after making a run through the Big 12 Tournament the weekend before in San Antonio, Texas.  However, Nebraska came out fired up and ready to play on Sunday when it took on Yale in very wet and muddy conditions.

 

Seniors Christine Latham and Kori Saunders led Nebraska on the offensive end, contributing all three goals between. Saunders also had an assist on Latham's first goal of the tournament.

 

The Nebraska defense again gave an outstanding effort, posting its 13th and 14th shutouts of the season.

 

Sitting at 16-5-3, the Huskers are on a late-season run and are playing their best soccer of the season.  Nebraska has won 11 of its last 12 games, including the last five at neutral sites, including both wins in NCAA Tournament play and the Big 12 Tournament championship.

 

NU has only faced Santa Clara once in its nine-year history.  The Huskers dropped the teams' only meeting, 2-1, in 1999 at Stanford.  At the time, NU was ranked third in the country, and the Broncos were sitting at No. 1.

 

Santa Clara has hosted the first two rounds, defeating Creighton, 5-1, in the first round and Arizona State, 5-1, in the second round.  The Broncos are 17-4-1 overall for the season and shared the West Coast Conference Title with No. 5 Pepperdine, going 6-1-0 in conference action.  The West Coast Conference does not host a conference tournament.

 

While the two teams have only met once in school history, they have several 2002 opponents in common.  Both teams have seen Creighton, Portland, Oklahoma and Florida.  Nebraska is 1-2-1 against the common schedule, while Santa Clara is 3-0-1, with the tie coming against Florida.

 

The Broncos lost their season opener to No.1 Stanford, 3-0.  They have also fallen to California, 2-1, USC, 1-0, and Pepperdine, 1-0.