The No. 18 Santa Clara men's water polo team took a win and a
loss on the first day of the NorCal Invitational at California,
falling to fifth-ranked UC Irvine, 14-3, and defeating No. 16 Navy,
11-7.
In the first match against the Anteaters, the Broncos received
goals from junior James Case,
freshman Travis
Greco, and senior Josh Luebke
Santa Clara played a tight match against UC Irvine, only
trailing at half, 4-2. Five goals in both the third and
fourth quarters by the Anteaters sealed the fate of the Broncos,
who could only post one other goal in the final 16 minutes.
Junior goalie Michael
Wishart had six blocks in the game.
The victory over Navy gets credited as an upset for Santa Clara.
Senior Mitch Klipa
shined with three goals, while juniors Brett
Zylstra and Daley
Meistrell each scored two. The Broncos jumped out to a
7-3 lead by halftime and were only outscored in the fourth quarter,
2-1. Also scoring for the Broncos was Case, senior Stephen
Hobbs, freshman Tucker
Carlson, and senior Nick
Poggetti. Wishart made 10 saves.
The Broncos will continue play in the tournament tomorrow at a
different site, Diablo Valley College. Santa Clara will play
WWPA foe No. 8 Loyola Marymount at 10:40 a.m.