Two of the best women’s soccer teams in the nation will face off tonight when the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal hosts No. 5 Santa Clara at Maloney Field in its final non-conference game of the year.

The Cardinal (9-1-0) retook the top spot in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll from the Broncos (7-1-1) this past weekend. Stanford was the only team in the top four to win both of its games last week. Santa Clara lost 2-0 to California on Sunday.

Stanford heads into the match with a full complement of forwards — a luxury that the team has not had thus far in the 2007 season. Sophomores Kelley O’Hara and Ali Riley will both be available for the Cardinal after missing some time this year. Last weekend, O’Hara made her first appearance for Stanford since sustaining a shoulder injury against Missouri in mid-September, while Riley made her first start since returning from Women’s World Cup duty with the New Zealand national team.

The Cardinal swept two other Bay Area rivals, the University of San Francisco and St. Mary’s, in convincing fashion last week. Redshirt senior Shari Summers scored two goals to lead the team to a 3-1 victory over USF. On Sunday, it was freshman Christen Press’s turn to score a pair as Stanford cruised to a 4-1 win versus St. Mary’s.

Summers is tied with freshman forward Morgan Redman atop the Stanford scoring charts with ten points from her five goals. Redman has four goals and two assists.

The Santa Clara attack is led by sophomore Kiki Bosio, who also has ten points. She has three goals and four assists. Two Broncos players, Tina Estrada and Brittany Klein, have both tallied four goals in the season. Goalkeeper Megan McCray has three shutouts in eight games for Santa Clara.

Stanford will probably answer in goal with freshman Kira Maker, who has been standing in for senior Erica Holland the past few weeks. Maker has done well in her first taste of collegiate action, making 12 saves and allowing only three goals in five games, all of them starts.

Maker has not allowed more than one goal in any game she has played in a Stanford uniform.

After today’s heavyweight clash the Cardinal will move forward into the Pacific-10 Conference schedule. Stanford is one of four ranked teams in the Pac-10 this season, along with No. 2 UCLA, No. 13 USC, and No. 18 California. The Bears will oppose Stanford in the team’s first conference game.