SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's water polo is set to begin the 2026 season this Friday, August 27, 2026, with a doubleheader against UC Merced and Fresno Pacific in Merced, Calif. The Broncos are entering their 25th season under the direction of head coach Keith Wilbur, who enters the year as the program's all-time winningest coach with 318 career victories. 

Santa Clara is coming off a sixth-place finish in the West Coast Conference last season and were also tabbed to finish sixth this season in the annual preseason WCC Coaches Poll. The Broncos put a program-record four players on the 2025 All-WCC team and will see three of them return once again this season, including first-teamer Riccardo De Simon, who recently was named Preseason All-WCC for the second-consecutive year. In just two years of work, De Simon has established himself as one of the top players in the WCC, earning back-to-back ACWPC All-America honors as a freshman (honorable mention) and sophomore (third team) in addition to all-league honors both seasons. The utility player has led the conference in each of the last two seasons in both steals and sprints, and is coming off a fantastic season that saw him set career highs in goals (71), points (96), steals (71), sprint wins (51) and drawn exclusions (45). 

The other returning All-WCC performers are junior Henry Engs and sophomore Imme van der Schaaf. Engs, the younger brother of senior Charlie Engs, was a Second Team All-WCC pick as well as an honorable mention ACWPC All-America selection after leading the conference in assists per game (2.3) and tallying a team-high 58 total assists. van der Scaaf earned a spot on the 2025 WCC All-Freshman team after finishing second on the team in scoring (49), assists (42) and points (91). Senior goalie Harrison Labrosse, a mainstay in the net for the last three seasons for the Broncos, also returns with 546 career saves under his belt after posting the fourth-best save percentage in the league last year at 42.5 percent. 

The Broncos also added seven newcomers in the form of freshmen goalie Connor Clougherty, utility player Nick Zimmerman and attackers Darion Wang, Caleb Yost, Marco Rizof,Finn Swanson and Mathijs Dirven. 

Fans will have to wait until October to see the Broncos finally play a match from the comfort of home at the Sullivan Aquatic Center. SCU will first take part in in-state tournaments in Merced, Davis, Stanford and Irvine, as well as a trip to the east coast for the annual Princeton Invitational, before finally hosting UC Davis on Oct. 9 in the first of eight scheduled home matches over the course of October and early November. The annual Julian Fraser Memorial will take part Oct. 23-25 and SCU will also serve as the host venue for the 2026 WCC Championship, Nov. 20-22.