SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The No. 13 Bronco men's water polo saw a winning weekend, going 2-1 at the Aggie Shootout in Davis, Calif. The Broncos are now 7-5 for the season.
The Broncos played Cal Lutheran in their first game of the weekend. Off an earned ejection, Evan Chang converted the man up opportunity for the only goal of the first quarter, 1-0 Bronco advantage.
The Kingsmen tied the game up 1-1 to start the second quarter, but Chase Schaaf answered back quickly with a goal to keep the Broncos lead, 2-1. The Kingsmen went on a two-goal run but Schaaf put in his second goal of the game to tie it three all. Graham McClone and David Guibord each had a goal in the final minute of the quarter to give the Broncos a 5-4 lead going into half.
After battling in the first minutes of the third, the Kingsmen tied the game 5-5, and scored another go-ahead goal, 6-5. Richard Daly scored for the Broncos to tie the game once again, 6-6. Chang scored his second of the game off another earned ejection, but the Kingsmen scored with 10 seconds left to tie the game for a final time 7-7.
The Broncos came out firing in the fourth quarter and ran away with the game. Goalie Matt Pritchett and the Bronco defense kept the Kingsmen scoreless. Will Grant got the ball rolling and Guibord followed suit to create a two-goal advantage. Mark Davis converted a penalty shot and with goals by Grant and Michael Franco, the Broncos picked up the 12-7 win over Cal Lutheran.
On Saturday, the Broncos faced No. 19 Whittier in their first game of the day. Off an earned ejection, the Poets jumped out with the lead but Guibord tied the game up, 1-1. Grant scored, but the Poets put in two more to finish the first with the 3-2 lead.
Guibord tied in three all to start the second but the Broncos couldn't overcome the one goal deficit. John Raineri and Schaaf each scored in the second but the Poets kept a one goal lead going into half, 6-5.
Davis tied the game six all and Matt Kochalko tied the game again seven all but the Poet finished the third with a one goal advantage, 8-7. Grant and Guibord each put in a goal in the fourth but the Poets left the pool with the 10-9 win, giving the Broncos their only loss of the weekend.
In their final game the Broncos played Chapman and started the game off with a three goal unanswered run with two from Chang and one by Kochalko. The Cougars were able to rally back and put in three of their own, but one more from Grant gave the Broncos a one-goal lead, 4-3.
The Broncos offense took things up a notch out of half, scoring six goals in the third quarter and only allowing two from the Cougars. With goals by Graham McClone, Daly, Raineri, Grant and two from Schaaf the Broncos had a 12-5 advantage going into the final quarter.
Guibord put in one more goal for the Broncos and the team won 13-7 over Chapman.
The Broncos will now bring it home for their first home game of he season Oct. 4 against Bay Area rival, the No. 7 Pacific Tigers at 6 pm. Be sure to come out and support your Broncos!
