STOCKTON, Calif. - Behind a suffocating defensive effort in the net by senior
Harrison Labrosse and a furious second half scoring spree, No. 18 Santa Clara men's water polo picked up a huge victory over No. 13 Pacific on Friday evening, defeating the Tigers 12-8 at the Kjeldsen Pool. It is the program's first-ever win in Stockton, breaking a streak of 16-straight losses that dated back to 1994.
While the victory was Santa Clara's first in Pacific's own pool, it was just the latest in a stretch of recent success in a series historically dominated by the Tigers. SCU has now won three of the last four meetings, including back-to-back in the last two seasons.
Santa Clara (13-12, 2-4) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead behind first-half goals from
Henry Engs and
Jamie De Zwart, and tacked on two more points courtesy of goals from
Julien Chow and
Charlie Engs in the second period to take a slim 4-3 advantage into the halftime break. While goals were tough to come by in the first 16 minutes, the Broncos opened the floodgates in the third period. Pacific scored the first goal of the frame to knot the score at 4-4, but the Broncos responded with a 4-0 run behind two goals apiece by
Riccardo De Simon and
Henry Engs to completely swing the momentum in SCU's favor. Leading 8-4 at the start of the fourth quarter,
Ashton Brown quickly struck to extend the run to 5-0 and give Santa Clara their largest lead of the night.
Pacific (10-9, 3-3) pushed back with back-to-back goals to end the spree, but Brown scored yet again to flip the momentum back in the Broncos' favor at 10-6. The Tigers rallied for two more unanswered goals, yet, once again, Brown came through for the Broncos, fighting through a crowd to throw in his third goal of the period and give SCU a three-goal advantage once again with just 1:45 remaining.
Charlie Engs closed the door on the Tigers completely with one final tally to the scoresheet in SCU's final offensive possession.
Labrosse, a senior from Lafayette, Calif., was dominant in the net for the Broncos, posting a career-high-tying 15 saves against just eight goals allowed. Brown and
Henry Engs led the way offensively with three-goal hat tricks, followed by
Charlie Engs' and De Simon's two-goal nights.
With plenty of momentum behind them, the Broncos will now turn their attention to Air Force for their final regular-season game of the 2026 campaign. SCU will host the Falcons on Sunday, Nov. 8, at noon with a senior day ceremony set to be held during pregame festivities.
