Women's water polo looks to national win as Broncos fall to No. 12 Spartans

By Jeremy Herb

Santa Clara women's water polo finished fourth in their conference last season and earned their first national ranking. It was the best finish ever for the team, but this year they won't be satisfied with the same results.

"We would really like to be in the final game for the championship," senior driver Alanna Simpkins said.

The No. 20 Broncos did not move any closer to their ultimate goal on Saturday, falling to No. 12 San Jose State 10-6 in their first game of the year.

The next day, however, Santa Clara showed its resilience by defeating the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters in a rout, 17-7. Sophomore utility Christie Miller scored four goals and junior driver Katie Radvanyi added a hat trick.

"San Jose State was a frustrating game," head coach Keith Wilbur said. "I thought we did a lot of good things, but in the fourth quarter we made a couple of mistakes and they capitalized."

The Broncos have never defeated San Jose State in their six years as a varsity sport at the university. However, the win would only matter in terms of the two schools' annual Rivalry Series since the Spartans are not an obstacle Santa Clara must overcome within their own conference.

The women's water polo team at San Jose State resides within the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. This is all despite the fact that the Spartans campus is within a five-mile radius of the Santa Clara campus.

While the final score against San Jose State wasn't close, Wilbur said it was the most competitive Santa Clara has ever played against the Spartans. In last year's contest, the Broncos fell behind 6-2 in the first half, but Saturday they were tied 5-5 going into the final quarter of play.

According to preseason polls, the Broncos were picked to finish third in their conference, the Western Water Polo Association, behind defending champion Loyola Marymount and the University of California, Davis.

Loyola Marymount is ranked fifth in the nation and defeated the Broncos last season in the WWPA semifinals en route to winning the conference championship. While the Broncos face an uphill battle in overtaking the Lions, the task is far from impossible, according to Wilbur.

"Winning the conference is a realistic goal," he said. "Beating Loyola would be a big upset, but it's not beyond the range of our team."

The Broncos would like the chance to knock off the conference champs, but they still would have to leapfrog the No. 13 Davis Aggies and No. 17 University of California, San Diego.

Santa Clara went winless in six games against the top three WWPA teams last season, including their semifinal loss to Loyola Marymount and third-place loss to the Aggies.

"When we play the top teams, we play them close, but we have a hard time finishing," Wilbur said. "The first step is competing, now we've got to learn how to finish."

One difficulty the Broncos must overcome is the loss of Catherine Flynn. As a senior last season, Flynn led the Broncos with 75 goals and was the first Bronco to earn WWPA First Team honors.

"I think last year we were very focused on her as a player," Simpkins said. "This year, everyone has to step up collectively."

Simpkins noted that their team's speed would play a big role in overcoming the loss of their leading scorer. She said that Wilbur has focused on swimming and conditioning since the start of preseason practice.

"Our speed is important, it will give us more counterattack goals," Simpkins said. "Our coach has definitely set higher goals with swimming. We started out where we were at the end of last season."

Wilbur said that without Flynn leading the offense in the pool this year, the Broncos would be looking for a more balanced attack.

"This year we're looking for the right match-up," he said. "Our team as a whole will have to fill the void. The one thing we were unsure of going into this season was offense. I think if our offense is kicking, we'll have a good season."

The Broncos will also be looking to their incoming freshman class to add to the team's depth. Santa Clara welcomed nine freshmen this year and Wilbur said he expects many of them to have an immediate impact.

"Our freshmen are not shy," said senior utility Lindsey Bacolini. "They have already shown a lot of improvement."

Only two games into the current season, one freshman has shown her ability to put the ball in the net. Against San Jose State, 2M Claire Linney scored two goals, and added another against CSU Monterey Bay.

The hardest thing, according to Simpkins, is the jump in level of play going from high school to college.

"It's difficult for freshmen because you need game experience," she said. "We've got a lot of freshman who really know the game, and they came in with that knowledge, which is nice, because we don't have to spend the time teaching it to them."

The Broncos next contest is against Cal State East Bay at the Malley pool 12 p.m. Saturday.

Contact Jeremy Herb at (408) 551-1918 or jmherb@scu.edu.