University of San Francisco Athletics

Wednesday's match	Sunday's match
Opponent: Saint Mary's (5-6-4, 3-2-2 WCC)	Opponent: Santa Clara (8-8-0, 5-3-0 WCC)
Location: Moraga, Calif.	Location: Negoesco Stadium
Time: 2:30 p.m.	Time: 1 p.m.

 
GAME NOTES
VIDEO/LIVE STATS (Santa Clara game)
 
SAN FRANCISCO—The Dons may have seen its chance to make a big move up the standings slip away with the loss to Loyola Marymount but has little time to recover when it takes on its Bay Area rivals, beginning with Saint Mary's on Wednesday afternoon.
 
San Francisco has had a resurgence in the last few weeks and it all started following its game against Saint Mary's, which ended in a 4-1 decision for the Gaels. They have beaten Santa Clara, San Diego twice and played wire-to-wire with LMU before dropping both contests on late goals.
 
DEFENSIVE TURNAROUND
After allowing seven goals in its first three conference matches, San Francisco has yielded two goals in its last five matches. That has been a result of the play of a back four anchored by Joshua Smith, Christian De Luna, David Romney and Kevin Gould and the stellar play in goal from Connor Gaal. The redshirt freshman ranks first in the WCC in GAA (0.50) and save percentage (.900).
 
If Gaal were eligible for the national rankings, he would be sixth in GAA and tied for third in save percentage. He needs to have played at least 50 percent of the team's total minutes to qualify.
 
MOVING UP THE CHARTS
The Dons have earned nine points in the last five matches and go into the week in fifth place and are within two points of Portland (9), Saint Mary's (11) and Gonzaga (12). These teams make up three of the Dons' final four games of the regular season. A win over Saint Mary's on Wednesday would move them ahead of the Gaels and Bulldogs for third place. The Dons have not finished higher than fifth place since 2008 when they were the WCC champions.
 
SENIOR DAY THIS WEEKEND
The Dons play their final home game on Sunday against rival Santa Clara and it will also be the final home game for the team's six graduating seniors: Mauricio Diaz De Leon, Vegard Karlsen, Michael Shaddock, Brady Jimison and Tanner Smith. Entering the week, the six have totaled 233 games in Green and Gold.
 
ABOUT SAINT MARY'S (5-6-4, 3-2-2 WCC)
The Gaels took the last matchup in San Francisco 4-1 and since then the teams have gone in opposite directions. Saint Mary's is 1-3-1 since that game on Oct. 9 in San Francisco and has allowed six goals in those five games. The only win came on Sunday against San Diego.  Alex Braman and Michael Semenza each scored goals for Saint Mary's. The Gaels have not lost to USF in Moraga since 2008.
 
ABOUT SANTA CLARA (8-8-0, 5-3-0 WCC)
The Broncos swept through its trip to the Pacific Northwest this past weekend with a 1-0 victory over Portland and a 2-1 decision over Gonzaga. The Broncos have won four of its last five since losing to San Francisco 1-0 on Oct. 11. WCC Player of the Week Carlos Montes scored to game-winning goals over the weekend and has four goals in the season.
 
BROADCAST
The Dons will be back on USFDons.com/LIVE for Sunday's match against Santa Clara with Pat Olson on the call.