U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The Santa Clara men's water polo closed the season strong with victories against higher seeded teams in its final two games in the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Championships.
Graham McClone and DeMarco Orella scored two goals apiece to help lead sixth-seeded and No. 15 Broncos past No. 2 seed and 14th-ranked Loyola Marymount, 9-7, Sunday to claim fifth place in the three-day, seven-team tournament, which was held at Air Force.
Santa Clara (13-20), which downed No. 4 seed Fresno Pacific in Saturday's consolation round, took control late in the second half with three goals in less than 2 minutes. Orella extended the lead to 4-2 with 2:12 left in the second quarter on a 5-meter penalty shot before Dane Estrella (1:16) and Will Grant (0:25) scored for a 4-goal halftime lead.
"Despite not playing for the championship today, it was important for the guys go out and compete and they did that," head coach Keith Wilbur said. "I thought they came out with a lot of energy and played really well on the defensive side,"
The Lions (11-14) found some offense in the third quarter, but were unable to stop the Broncos. Each team scored three times with SCU heading into the fourth with a comfortable 9-5 lead.
Emanuel DiStasio scored one of his two goals on a 5-meter shot with 4:20 to go in the game and Daniel Camburn added an even strength tally with less than a minute left for the Lions, who never led in the game.
Joe Maestri had 11 saves, including five in the first quarter, for Santa Clara. After McClone's first goal made the score 2-0, Maestri came up with four saves in less than 3 minutes to help preserve the lead.
"I thought Joe played really well, especially in the first half," Wilbur said. "He really helped us build the lead."
Both of Orella's goals came on penalty shots. His first one at 1:39 of the first quarter extended the Broncos' lead to 3-1. He earned a spot on the all-tournament second team after collecting four goals in the three games.
Santa Clara ended the year with three victories in its final four outings.
"It was really nice to end the season with a win," Wilbur said.
No. 6 seed Santa Clara 9, No. 2 seed LMU 7
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |||||||||||
| LMU | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | ||||||||||
| Santa Clara | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
9 |
Goals: Demarco Orella (2), Julian Fraser (1), Graham McClone (2), John Raineri (1), Dane Estrella (1), Will Grant (1), Sam Toriggino (1)
Saves: Joe Maestri (11).
