SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Sophomore center
Ashton Brown scored a pair of late goals, including the game-winner, to help No. 18 Santa Clara men's water polo pick up a huge 11-10 victory over No. 20 Saint Mary's on Friday at the Sullivan Aquatic Center. The win was the Broncos' first in West Coast Conference play this season (1-3).
Santa Clara (12-11) jumped out a 2-0 lead early in the opening quarter, but Saint Mary's (7-12, 1-3) responded well to make it 3-2 SCU at the end of the first. Neither team would trail by more than one goal for the remainder of the afternoon, and the fourth period began with the score deadlocked at 7-7. The Broncos struck first in the fourth behind a goal from
Henry Engs, and after the Gaels answered to tie things back up again, Engs once again delivered on a 5-meter penalty shot to give SCU a 9-8 advantage with less than six minutes to play.
Saint Mary's answered yet again with 3:11 to play before Brown broke the tie with just under two minutes remaining. The Gaels had one more answer in them with one minute left, knotting the score at 10-10, but that's when Brown took matters into his own hands once again for the Broncos, taking a pass from
Henry Engs and delivering a perfect back-handed shot into the net with 45 seconds remaining for what would prove to be the winning goal. SCU got a stop on the ensuing possession and melted all but one second off of the clock before turning it back over to the Gaels. Their desperation attempt at the buzzer missed its mark wide.
Brown led the way offensively with three goals while Engs and
Jason Alietti scored twice.
Riccardo De Simon,
Darion Wang,
Luke Baird and
Charlie Engs also found the back of the net once each while
Harrison Labrosse made eight saves defensively.
Santa Clara has now won four-straight games and will look to extend the streak tomorrow when they host rivals San Jose State for a noon match at Sullivan Aquatic Center.
