Sept. 29, 2007

Davis, Calif. - The Santa Clara men's water polo team lost a hard fought battle to conference leader UC Davis 7-6 Saturday. After leading by three goals in the fourth quarter, Davis went on a run and scored the last four goals. The Broncos got another great game out of Robert Callahan in goal, who recorded 14 blocks in a low scoring game.

"It was a tough game," said head coach Keith Wilbur. "I thought our guys played really well, but we just couldn't get it going in the fourth."

After the first half, the Broncos were trailing 3-2 in a back and forth game. The team started to pull ahead in the third, taking a 5-3 lead going into the fourth quarter. But after scoring the first goal in the fourth to take a 6-3 lead, Davis went on a run to end the game.

"It was a really physical game," said Wilbur. "The refs were letting the guys play and we just had to do a better job of protecting the ball late in the game. But you have to expect that when you're playing a good team on the road in front of a packed crowd."

Wilbur was disappointed with the outcome, but overall happy with his team's performance. "It was a learning experience and hopefully we can learn from that if we get in that kind of situation again," he added. "But I thought we played really well all game."

The Broncos were led in scoring by Liam Farrell with two goals. Josh Early, Andrew Fitch, Stephen Hobbs, and Tommy Kelly all also scored one goal apiece.

The story of the game though was defense. In addition to Callahan's 14 blocks, the Broncos got solid play all game long from Kelly and Fitch. "Davis has some really good two meter players," said Wilbur. "But Tommy [Kelly] and Andrew [Fitch] did a good job all day of guarding those guys and keeping it a low scoring game."

Mike Detoy, Nicholas Poggetti, Matt Adler, and Mike Sorgenfrei all had assists in the game as well.

The Broncos see action tomorrow against #3 UCLA at 10:30 a.m. and then against Fresno Pacific at 3 p.m.