D’Aquila’s scoring prowess drives Santa Clara soccer
“Every team we’ve gone against has tried to keep me off the board . ... To have people wanting to mark you makes it tough, but it helps me become a better player.” Izzy D’Aquila, Santa Clara soccer player
When Izzy D’Aquila committed to Santa Clara, head coach Jerry Smith sent a text to his athletic director.
It read: “We’re back.” The Broncos’ senior is second in the nation with 19 goals and led Santa Clara (11-6-3) into the second round of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament with a goal with 27 seconds left in double overtime Saturday. The header — the game’s only goal — kept the Broncos from having to go to penalty kicks against Cal. Up next is a game Friday at regional top seed Notre Dame (152-3).
Santa Clara’s scoring this season suffered from the loss of Kelsey Turnbow, who went to the NWSL. A 2-7 start could have felled the program early, but Smith had expected it; he knew it was going to take a while to start winning.
By the time WCC play arrived, the Broncos had started to look more like the 2020 team that won the NCAA title (in May 2021). D’Aquila was a sophomore that season, and expectations for her were already high. As a senior, she has reached a different level.
“Every team we’ve gone against has tried to keep me off the board,” she said. “It’s a great accomplishment to work harder than them, that’s a battle all game. To have people wanting to mark you makes it tough, but it helps me become a better
player.”
The Mission Viejo (Orange County) native likely will be an NWSL draft pick. If she wasn’t high on draft boards before the season, her WCC dominance and ability to find the big moment should put her there.
The Broncos have a legacy of elite talent; Brandi Chastain and Aly Wagner are among the AllAmericans who grace Santa Clara’s record book.
D’Aquila’s game-winner Saturday was the 50th goal of her career, seventh all-time for Santa Clara — ahead of players like Wagner and Leslie Osborne. D’Aquila’s Santa Clara career began with her scoring a schoolrecord 15 goals and being named the WCC Freshman of the Year.
“We’ve had maybe 10, 12 players in front of Izzy as far as scoring,” Smith said. “But if I’m being honest about it, they did it because we were so good and had so many options. I don’t know if we’ve ever had someone have such a high percentage of our goals.”
D’Aquila’s 19 goals are 61% of the Broncos’ 31. Freshman Farrah Walters has five goals and sophomore Colby Barnett two; no one else has more than one.
Cal held D’Aquila to two shots prior to the game-winner, both of which sailed high over the net. She has grown used to that this season. With a soft-scoring team like the Broncos, D’Aquila is typically going to be closely guarded.
In high school, D’Aquila led JSerra-San Juan Capistrano to three consecutive Division 1 state titles. She netted 135 goals and added 59 assists.
“When Jerry came down to recruit her, he was very excited,” said D’Aquila’s high school and club coach, Greg Baker, who has coached dozens of Division I players. “He knew she was going to bring something to his program that hadn’t been there for a long time.”
The Broncos have reached the NCAA tournament in 32 of the past 34 seasons. D’Aquila has been a part of the past four.
Smith often has cited the Broncos’ postseason history (64-25-6 all-time in the NCAA tournament) as motivation for the current players to carry the legacy. But both he and Baker noted that D’Aquila’s drive is beyond anything they’ve seen.
Baker, who coached D’Aquila from the time she was 11 to 18 years old, said some of that comes from her family. Smith said he sees a player driven to go to the next level.
“I’m proud to have my name high on the scoring list,” she said. “Soccer is a team sport, and I’m trying to work hard and grow my own game as well. It’s difficult to score anywhere on the field, and to have done it 19 times is an accomplishment for myself as well.”
As a junior, she had eight goals. She took every time she didn’t score personally — precisely the type of competitor Baker had seen before she was on Smith’s radar.
“If she scored once, she was upset she didn’t score two,” Baker said. “With a player like Izzy who puts in all the extra time, she was always going to be this good.”
Baker said when D’Aquila first started playing for him, she was “all grit and no technique.” Her technique has evolved to allow her to be dangerous on every part of the field.
Santa Clara has relied on her scoring prowess to get to the tournament at all. Next season, she’ll take that scoring to the pros, and the Broncos will look to replace one of the most productive players in program history.
“I’m sticking with what I said to my AD the day we got her,” Smith said. “We’re back, and it’s because that kid can score goals.”