SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Santa Clara University men's water polo team unveiled its 2026 schedule Friday, headlined by the program's first conference championship hosting duties in a decade and a slate featuring 11 opponents ranked in last season's final top-20 poll.
 
The Broncos will host the 2026 West Coast Conference Championship Tournament on Nov. 20-22 at Sullivan Aquatic Center — the first time Santa Clara has hosted a conference championship since the Western Water Polo Association title event in 2016. The marquee assignment anchors a season schedule that also includes five NCAA Tournament programs from a year ago.
 
Coming off a 9-14 campaign in which they finished No. 17 in the final ACWPC poll, the Broncos will play at least 10 home contests at Sullivan, highlighted by the WCC Championship and their own Julian Fraser Memorial (Oct. 23-25). Four of those home dates come against 2025 final top-20 opponents: No. 8 UC Davis (Oct. 9), No. 11 Princeton (Oct. 22), No. 20 Brown (Oct. 24) and No. 6 San Jose State (Oct. 31).
 
Santa Clara will navigate three consecutive road tournaments in September before conference play. The Broncos start the run with a meeting against 2025 NCAA champion UCLA at the Aggie Shootout in Davis on Sept. 5, then travel to the Princeton Invitational (Sept. 11-12) — where they'll encounter 2025 No. 18 Harvard — before the prestigious MPSF Invitational at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center (Sept. 18-20). SCU opens its season on the road on Aug. 28 with two games against Fresno Pacific and host UC Merced.
 
The WCC slate takes on a new look in 2026 with the additions of UC Davis and Saint Mary's. The Aggies open conference play in Santa Clara on Oct. 9 before the Broncos hit the road to face 2025 No. 9 Pepperdine and No. 12 LMU (Oct. 17-18). Santa Clara returns home to host the Gaels — in their first varsity season — and rival San Jose State on Oct. 30-31, then travels to 2025 No. 15 Pacific (Nov. 6) and closes the regular season at home against Air Force (Nov. 8) before turning its full attention to hosting the WCC Championship.
 
Santa Clara returns 18 letterwinners this fall, including ACWPC All-Americans Riccardo De Simon (third team) and Henry Engs (honorable mention). The Broncos earned four wins last season over nationally ranked teams, and dropped seven other games against ranked foes by only three goals or fewer.