Sept. 21, 2003

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The Santa Clara University men's water polo team defeated Division III sixth-ranked La Verne 6-5 this morning in a match hosted by UC Santa Cruz at its East Field House. The victory improves the Broncos to 5-2 on the season and marks SCU's second win over La Verne in as many weeks.

"It's hard to beat a team you just played one week ago," Bronco head coach Keith Wilbur explained. "They saw us at Redlands' tournament and knew what we had, but our guys really stepped up and grinded out the one-goal victory."

Junior Mark Oda led the team defensively with five steals, while netminder Peter Moore tallied 11 blocks and one steal. The offensive was led by Kenny Flanagan-De La Hoz, who scored four times. Grant Allison added the Broncos' other two goals.

Santa Clara will return to the East Field House next weekend, and participate in UC Santa Cruz's Slugfest Invitational. The Broncos open play on Friday against BYU-Hawaii at 1:05 p.m., and Whittier at 6:10 p.m. On Saturday, Santa Clara will battle Claremont (10:45 a.m.) and Redlands (4:10 p.m.) before Sunday's matches against U.S. Air Force Academy (9:05 a.m.) and Pomona-Pitzer (3:35 p.m.).