Water Polo Ready to Finish Strong

By Henry Gula

The Broncos are currently 14-15 overall, but boast an impressive 6-2 mark against conference opponents. They are currently in fourth place in the WWPA standings, just one half game behind California State University, East Bay.

Over spring break, the team stayed on campus to train and practice in preparation for the stretch run of their season.

The team incorporated some fun activities into the training. "I think it is real important to get the team off campus during spring break," Head Coach Keith Wilbur told Bronco Athletics online. "This year we went down to Santa Cruz for three days and did some training down there. We scheduled everything out so we could still practice, do some beach workouts and do some things down in Santa Cruz that were fun and allowed for a great team bonding experience." 

This past weekend, the team hosted their annual Bronco Invitational at the Sullivan Aquatic Center. Saturday's game pitted the Broncos against Loyola Marymount University, currently number one in the conference.

The Broncos began the game hot, with two early goals from Kaitlin Murphy and Claire Eadington. The Lions proceeded to hold the Broncos scoreless through the rest of the game, sealing the 8-2 win over Santa Clara.

In the second game, the Broncos played CSU East Bay and had the early lead on four goals from Julia Peters, Elle Surber, Jenny Anderson and Jamie Swartz.

The Pioneers kept the game close, scoring four goals in the fourth period including the tying and go-ahead goals in the final 1:30.

The Broncos fared much better on Sunday.

In their early game against Colorado State University, Alison Norris led the way with three goals while Eadington and Ashleigh Bandiemere added two goals each helping the Broncos down the Rams 11-9.

In the final game of the tournament, the Broncos took on California State University, Monterey Bay and had two goals from Murphy, Eadington, Peters, Anderson and Makena Pezzuto. The Broncos beat the Otters 12-10.

The team has one more game on April 20 at Sonoma State Univeristy before the tournament. 

Contact Henry Gula at hgula@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.