Santa Clara women’s soccer coach Jerry Smith knew he wanted Dani Weatherholt in his program after working with her on an age-group regional team. He offered a scholarship to the young midfielder from San Clemente, Calif., but Weatherholt had other ideas.
“I emailed Jerry and said, `I’m so sorry, I loved my experience with you as a coach but Santa Clara is not on my list,’ “ recalled Weathertolt, who also was considering Stanford and Cal. “When I was looking at colleges, I wanted to go to a big school with a football team.”
Smith responded that he doesn’t easily give up and he continued to pepper her with text messages, encouraging a recruiting visit. When he finally got her on the phone, Smith told her, “If you want me to stop bugging you, I promise I will leave you alone forever if you spend one day on our campus. That’s all I want.”
Weatherholt agreed and was blown away by the experience. “Jerry gave me the campus tour and it seemed like every 200 feet someone stopped us and was like, `Hey Jerry. Hey Dani, nice to meet you.’ I was thinking, `This is a setup.’ “
But Weatherholt was sold, impressed by the community and the campus atmosphere. And one more thing: “Jerry let me know, `Your season is during football season, anyway. You probably can’t go to games. And at Santa Clara, we are the football team.’ “
Weatherholt is now 30 and just completed her eighth season as a professional, playing for the Carolina Courage in the National Women’s Soccer League. She will have an eye on her old school Friday afternoon when the Broncos (13-3-4) take on No. 2 seed North Carolina (17-5) in a second-round NCAA Tournament game in Chapel Hill, NC.
Santa Clara knocked off BYU 1-0 in Provo, Utah, in its NCAA opener, the 10th consecutive year the Broncos have won a first-round game in the event. It was the 66th all-time NCAA victory for the Broncos, who are playing in the event for the 34th time in Smith’s 37 seasons.
Smith has assembled a career record of 561-182-76 — one of just three coaches with more than 500 victories in Division I women’s soccer — and his teams won national titles in 2001 and 2020. Preparing his athletes for life after college is Smith’s primary mission. And although that doesn’t necessarily involve continuing to play the sport, 16 of his former players have earned spots on the U.S. women’s national team and dozens have played professionally in the U.S. and around the globe.
Four iconic ex-Broncos — Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner, Leslie Osborne and Danielle Slaton — teamed up as founders of the Bay FC franchise, which made the NWSL playoffs this season in its inaugural campaign.
“I have a lot of pride because I’ve gotten to do it with them,” Slaton said of her three fellow alums. “We’re one year in and I still sometimes can’t believe it, even though it’s happening right in front of me. I’m just excited for what we can continue to build. Excited for Santa Clara that those players know there is a pathway for them even after college in a way that wasn’t always the case.”
Alex Loera, 25, was a three-time West Coast Conference Defender of the Year and was a member of the 2020 NCAA championship team. “If we don’t have Alex on that team, I guarantee you we don’t win that championship,” Smith said. One of seven ex-Broncos active in the NWSL, she is on the mend after tearing her ACL last spring and missing much of her season with Bay FC.
A native of Colorado, Loera chose Santa Clara after being convinced that Smith could help her attain her long-term aspirations of a pro career and a spot on the national team roster.
“He’s had such an amazing track record of players going on to play on the national team. He was like, `I can help get you there,’ “ she recalled. “As soon as I got there it was a whole different standard. At the time I was, `Why are you so hard on me?’ “
Now she understands. Loera earned her undergrad degree in economics, received an additional year of eligibility due to the pandemic and made the most of it. “Got my master’s and won the national championship in the same year. Not too shabby,” she said. Then she was drafted into the NWSL.
Smith said preparing women for what’s next means having a growth mindset, being resilient, goal-oriented and disciplined. “Discipline, for me, is probably the most important thing I teach,” he said. “My definition of discipline is do the the things that you don’t really want to do that help you get ahead in life. Go to bed early, wake up early, don’t go to that party, eat the right things, do your homework, be on time.”
When his players are ready to graduate and move on, Smith leaves them with one more message. “I hope I’ve been hard enough on you,” he said. “I hope that you’ve been very uncomfortable here I hope you’ve grown a lot in that process and I hope that you’ve honed those skills that are going to allow you to be successful.”
Slaton, now 44 and married with two children, was a three-time first-team All-American (1999-2000-2001) for the Broncos and the 2001 College Cup Defensive MVP. She was the youngest member of the 2000 Olympic team, winning a silver medal while still in college, and played on the third-place 2003 World Cup squad.
She treasures her time at Santa Clara and is appreciative of the path Smith helped her find.
“I feel like Santa Clara is where I truly learned to play and understand the game of soccer. I think that’s one of Jerry’s super powers. He teaches you how to solve problems and how to think and how to understand and see the game,” she said.
“He put that onus on us as players to figure that out. So when you leave Santa Clara, you take that knowledge with you and it was applicable in the professional space. I think that’s why so many Santa Clara players have gone on to have the success that they have.”
Weatherholt had that exact experience transitioning from college into the pro game.
“Very quickly when I got to the pros I realized I knew a lot. I feel like Jerry had prepared my soccer IQ, my understanding of the game, my gamesmanship,” she said. “I was like, `Wow. How do other girls not know this?’ I just felt like Jerry had really prepared me.”
As a result, Weatherholt didn’t merely have a cup of coffee in the pros but an actual career. She is signed with Carolina through next season and hopes to continue playing for a while. Smith called her a great leader and teammate, the hardest-working player on every team.
For Smith, 63, teaching and competing remain driving forces. The first-round NCAA matchup at BYU in front of 2,500 hostile fans was not easy, but Smith and his team embraced the opportunity.
“This is a frickin’ hard challenge, but this is going to be awesome. Just think how much we’re going to grow,” he said, recalling the mood beforehand. The Broncos prevailed and now the climb gets steeper with a trip to UNC. “Carolina is much better than us, but we’re going to fight them tooth and nail and it’s going to be a battle. It’s exactly what we want.”
Slaton is confident of the outcome.“I expect them to win,” she said. “That’s how much I believe in the program. It’s also because we’ve done it before.”
Smith tells the story of a 2004 Sweet 16-round matchup against unbeaten and top-ranked North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The game was scoreless through regulation and Smith struggled to find a message for his team during the 5-minute break before sudden death overtime.
Just moments before the players were called back onto the field, Smith gathered them and asked if they remembered their recruiting visit to Santa Clara. That prompted a lot of confused looks from his players, who were anxious to get some valuable instruction from their coach.
Finally, he found the words: “You decided to come to Santa Clara University because this team beats that team. That’s what we do at Santa Clara.”
Thirty-one seconds into overtime, Megan Kakadelas scored off an assist from Tina Estrada and the Broncos took home a 1-0 victory.