STANFORD, Calif. - No. 17 Santa Clara men's water polo dropped a pair of matches against ranked teams on Saturday at the Avery Aquatic Center in the second round of the 2026 Overnght MPSF Invitational. The Broncos dropped a close 15-13 final to No. 14 UC Santa Barbara before falling 16-11 in the nightcap against No. 16 Cal Baptist. SCU (6-4) will wrap up the tournament tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. PT against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. 

Game One | #14 UC Santa Barbara 15, #17 Santa Clara 13
Santa Clara's day began with a hard-fought affair against the Gauchos. Riccardo De Simon scored four goals while Ashton Brown had a three-goal hat trick of his own and freshman Marco Rizoff tallied two more goals. SCU trailed by just one at 10-9 after three quarters of play. Brown knotted things up just 28 seconds in the fourth quarter, but the Gauchos struck for two unanswered to take a two-goal advantage at 12-10. Brown and Charlie Engs each scored with under four minutes to play, but UCSB had an answer of their own on both occasions. Julien Chow gave SCU one last chance by scoring with 1:18 remaining, but another Gaucho goal with just 41 seconds to play clinched the match. 

Game Two | #16 Cal Baptist, #17 Santa Clara 11
Imme van der Schaaf had a career high-tying five goals, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Broncos from dropping their second match of the day. It was a 6-6 contest at the half, but Cal Baptist outscored SCU 5-3 in the third period and once again in the fourth to claim the five-goal victory.