The No. 13 Santa Clara men's water polo team wrapped up the 2010 Rodeo Tournament by winning its final two games of the competition; defeating No. 20 Brown, 16-9, and Air Force, 8-6.
In the morning game, the Broncos topped the Bears, led by senior
captain Stephen
Hobbs' four goals. Senior Nick
Poggetti also had an outstanding game, scoring three
goals. Freshman Tucker
Carlson and sophomore Patrick
Weiss added two goals each, while junior goalie Michael
Wishart had eight saves.
Santa Clara went up 3-0 quickly in the first quarter on a goal by
Poggetti and two by Hobbs. The two teams went to the second
quarter tied up at three.
Santa Clara poured it on in the second quarter, outscoring Brown
6-1. Hobbs started the scoring off, while Joshua
Luebke and Weiss added goals before Brown scored one.
Weiss scored again, as well as junior Brett
Zylstra and freshman Theo
Nasser as SCU went to halftime with a 9-4 lead.
Brown came back strong in the third quarter, scoring three goals
to Santa Clara's one. Carlson scored his first of two
second-half goals in the third quarter. Santa Clara led 10-7 after
the third quarter.
The two teams traded goals twice in the fourth quarter before
Poggetti scored two straight; and Andrew
Dugoni and Carlson hit the back of the net as well to give
Santa Clara a 16-9 victory.
In the afternoon game against the Falcons, the Broncos went unscored upon in the first while netting two goals. Air Force finally got on the board in the second quarter, but SCU took a 4-1 lead into half.
The third quarter was action-packed with seven goals. The Broncos scored four times to increase their lead by four as the Falcons scored three.
In the final quarter, Air Force scored twice and held SCU scoreless to make things interesting, but in the end the Broncos prevailed, 8-6.
Junior James Case had a huge game, scoring five goals. Poggetti struck twice, while senior John Radvanyi added a goal. Wishart made 10 saves in yet another double-digit block effort.
Santa Clara improves to 17-9 with this weekend's four wins. The Broncos will host No. 4 Stanford next Friday at 6 p.m. in a single-match weekend.
