PRINCETON, Calif. — The Santa Clara University women's water polo team flexed its offensive muscle Friday on the opening day of the Princeton Invitational, scoring 20 total goals across two games while narrowly getting edged by Iona, 12-10, and LIU, 14-10, at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool.
 
Megan Chambliss and Hailey Romano both scored five goals on the day to lead the Broncos (1-4). Chloe Rizof totaled four scores across the two games, and Khloe Tarbet had a single goal in each contest.
 
vs. IONA

• Santa Clara tied the game at 2-2 midway through the first period, but would trail the Gaels (2-3), 7-4, at halftime. The Broncos started the second half with a flurry of goals, scoring three unanswered to tie the game at 7-7. Two of those came from Rizof, who had a career-high-tying three goals in the game.
   
• Iona and Santa Clara traded goals back-and-forth from there, going all the way up to a 9-9 tie score at the end of the third period. Defense took over to start the final frame, with no one scoring for more than four minutes. Iona finally broke that stretch with two consecutive goals, taking an 11-9 advantage with less than three minutes to play. Sydney Maccabe put one in the back of the net to pull Santa Clara within one, but the Gaels iced the game on a final goal with 78 seconds remaining.
   
• Mia Barkett, Chambliss, Makenna Genco, Romano, Khloe Tarbet and Calla Troxel all scored single goals for Santa Clara against Iona.

vs. LIU

• Chambliss and Romano both went off in the afternoon versus Long Island University (1-4), scoring four goals each to account for eight of the Broncos' 10 goals. They each tallied goals at the end of the first period to put Santa Clara up, 5-2.
   
• Chambliss gave the Broncos back a one-goal lead in the second period at 6-5 after LIU had come back to tie it, but LIU's Nevaeh Houck tied the game again at 6-6 just before halftime. Chambliss was the one to tie the game at 10-10 to start the fourth period after the Sharks had taken the lead in the third.
   
• LIU scored a go-ahead goal only 40 seconds after Chambliss' tying score, and then defense took over, with both teams unable to find the back of the net for nearly 5 1/2 minutes. That's when the Sharks pulled away, scoring three goals from three different players in the game's final 84 seconds to earn the 14-10 victory.
   
• Romano scored twice in the first period and twice in the third. Rizof added a goal and Tarbet also scored once.

COMING UP

• The Broncos face tournament host and No. 17-ranked Princeton at 9 a.m. PST Saturday. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans can find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.