SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The 15th ranked Santa Clara men's water polo team will host No. 7 University of the Pacific on Sun., Oct. 30 at Noon. The game will be at the Sullivan Aquatic Center on the campus of Santa Clara University and will be Senior Day. The graduating seniors are Michael Wishart, Daley Meistrell, Marcus Akerland, Brett Zylstra and James Case.
"We have a great senior class on the men's water polo team this year. Some of them have been starting since their freshman year and other have developed over their career and are now starting. Either way, they have all worked hard and showed great improvement," said Santa Clara head coach Keith Wilbur. "Very often the team takes on the character of the senior class and I really like the character of our team this year. These seniors have done a great job over their four years and their leadership has been key to our success in the pool this year."
The Broncos have played Pacific twice already this season. The first meeting came at the Golden Bear Invitational in Berkeley, Calif. in Santa Clara's season-opener. Santa Clara fell by a score of 11-2. At the NorCal Tournament in Stockton, Calif. Pacific again got the better of the Broncos, this time by a score of 16-9.
"Pacific is currently ranked seventh and they are a very good team. They have some international players from Europe who have played very high level water polo and they are also well coached," said Wilbur. "As a team, we really enjoy playing great competition like this and it definitely prepares us well for the top teams in our conference."
Santa Clara continues to be led by redshirt sophomore Theo Nasser who already doubled his scoring total from last season. Nasser has tallied 37 goals while earning 39 ejections drawn. Seniors Akerland and Case have provided the Broncos with 33 goals each. Fifth-year senior Meistrell leads the team with 36 assists and has 26 steals, good for second on the team. Wishart has had an outstanding senior year registering 252 blocks with 21 assists and 16 steals.
Record Hunting
Daley Meistrell's three assists against UC Davis on Oct. 9 broke Jack Wall's mark of 139 as the all-time leader in assists. Case is also eighth all-time in goals scored for the Broncos.
Young Guns
Five players have scored their first career goals this season. Jimmy Moore collected his first against California on Sept. 3, while Mark Davis, Kyle Surber and Matt Kochalko all registered their first goals at the Princeton Invtational. C.J. D'Arienzo found the back of the net vs. La Verne at the Aggie Shootout for his first career goal.
Player of the Week
Michael Wishart was named the Sept. 21 WWPA Co-Player of the Week for his outstanding weekend at the annual Nor Cal Tournament. Wishart tallied 49 saves in four games, including a career-high 18 against No. 19 St. Francis. Wishart was also named WWPA player of the week for the week of Oct. 27, 2010.
Blocks Record
In Santa Clara's 13-4 win on Oct. 23 against Harvard at the Rodeo Tournament Michael Wishart recorded his 1,064th career block to pass Peter Moore for the all-time Santa Clara record. Wishart ended the game with 1,066 blocks and looks to add to his record during the remainder of the season.
