Oct. 30, 2009

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -

The No. 13 Santa Clara men’s water polo team fell to No. 9 UC Santa Barabara, 10-7, today at the Sullivan Aquatic Center. The Broncos scored first but surrendered the lead and were not able to regain it for the remainder of the match.

Sophomore James Case won the opening sprint and the effort resulted in junior Nick Poggetti’s first goal of the match. The Gauchos evened things up with a 6-on-5 goal just moments later and UCSB’s Brian Shoemaker gave them the lead at 5:19. Milos Golic then put Santa Barbara up by two on another power play.

The Gauchos drew a five-meter shot and had the potential to go up four goals, but sophomore goalkeeper Michael Wishart made a big stop to prevent the score. The next time down for UCSB, Wishart was huge again, keeping the ball out of the cage on a wide open shot.

Before the end of the quarter, senior Mike Sorgenfrei drew a five-meter shot that Wall finished, cutting the Gaucho lead to one.

In the second quarter, the Broncos were held scoreless while UC Santa Barbara put two more on the board, both on man-advantages. Santa Clara had two shots that hit the inside of the post, but unluckily both bounced out of the cage.

After the half, James Case scored on the power play to open the third period, breaking the tough man-down defense of the Gauchos.

The Broncos pulled to within one when junior Mitch Klipa took advantage of UCSB sleeping after gaining possession of the ball in their own defensive end. Klipa forced the turnover and the ball went to Case, who went back to Klipa for an undefended goal.

The Gauchos answered back with two goals, but the Broncos received a break when UCSB’s leading scorer Golic was rolled from the game. Santa Clara was unsuccessful on the advantage and then Santa Barbara went up four goals after converting on the power play.

With about three minutes to go in the quarter, junior Stephen Hobbs drew a kick out and head coach Keith Wilbur used a timeout to draw up a play. Wilbur’s tactic worked, as the Broncos worked the ball around to Sorgefrei who tossed it to Poggetti for the one-timer goal.

Poggetti got his third tally with 1:23 left in the quarter to bring Santa Clara within two.

Case won his fourth sprint of the game and it led to Jack Wall’s spectacular off-the-post goal from outside the seven meter mark, but UCSB’s Noah Smith scored on the next possession, forcing the Broncos to continue to play catch-up.

Goals from Guachos Joe Plume and Teddy Zhang put it out of reach for Santa Clara though, ending the game 11-7 in favor of UCSB. The loss puts the Broncos at 15-8-0 as they head into five games away from the Mission Campus.

Santa Clara Goal Scorers: Poggetti 3, Wall 2, Case 1, Klipa 1
UC Santa Barbara Goal Scorers: Golic 3, Shoemaker 3, Zhang 1, Dyer 1, Smith 1, Plume 1, Castillo 1
Goalie Saves: Wishart (SCU) 11, Bunn (UCSB) 4, Christian (UCSB) 9