Santa Clara University started their 2016 season impressively with a 42-29 defeat of Stanford Friday.

Captain and lock forward Riley White got the team going with a nice 20-meter run for a try, and he led well, especially when Stanford got an early lead.

Junior center Asad Brawell came on as an impact sub and boosted the team’s energy late, and got them some go-forward to help seal the game, while junior wing Nick Russo was strong on offense and defense.

“While the results are what we wanted, we definitely started a little slow,” said club president Andrew Clem. “I think what changed is that we simplified and became more direct with our game plan and pattern of attack as well as defense.”