Santa Clara athletics enjoyed a fine 2005 fall season and ranked as high as 13th in Sports Illustrated’s weekly all-sports top 25 national ranking. Santa Clara was the only Division I institution without a football team to make the rankings. In addition, SCU’s fall sports teams defeated a number of key schools in head-to-head competition: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Fresno State, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Pacific, Saint Louis, San Jose State, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest.
Fall Bronco Sports Highlights:
- Four Bronco sports teams ranked among the top 20 programs during the season, while the volleyball, men’s soccer and women’s soccer teams broke into the top-10 in the national polls. The men’s water polo team ranked as high as 18th nationally during the season.
- Three SCU student-athletes were named national athletes of the week: Jordan Angeli, women’s soccer; Keith Devey, men’s soccer; and Cassie Perret, volleyball.
- Eight student-athletes were named on national teams of the week for their particular sports.
- A total of 24 Broncos were named to all-West Coast Conference teams—eight women’s soccer players, seven men’s soccer players, five volleyball players, and four cross country
runners.
- Under first-year head coach Rob Miller, the men’s golf team won team championships at its first two competitions of the fall season and finished second in the annual Santa Clara Invitational.
- Women’s golfer Megan Stoddart won her first tournament as a Bronco at the Bronco Fall Invitational in Boise, Idaho, and the team finished the fall season with a second-place finish at the Cal Poly Invitational.
- Sophomore cross country runner Shannon Bell ran the second-fastest time ever for a Bronco at the WCC Championships, and her second-place finish equaled the best-ever for a SCU runner.