FRESNO, Calif. – A second-quarter offensive outburst and a strong defensive effort enabled the Santa Clara men's water polo team to claim a road victory in its Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) opener.
Dane Estrella, Will Grant and Mac Carey each scored a pair of goals, and goaltender Keaton Fox posted 10 blocks to lead the Broncos to a 10-6 win over Fresno Pacific (1-2, 0-1).
Santa Clara (4-2, 1-0) snapped a 2-all tie late in the first quarter and went on to post six straight goals, while the Sunbirds went scoreless for nearly two periods.
Estrella began the run on a marker with less than one minute left in the opening quarter then Grant added both of his goals in the second, the last coming with 3:58 remaining, and giving the Broncos a 5-2 lead. Estrella scored less than a minute later and the Sunbirds didn't get closer than three goals the rest of the way.
"It was a tough environment," head coach Keith Wilbur said. "They had a really good home crowd. They were right on top of us. We had to play through that, but we played good defense all game."
Graham McClone scored on a 5-meter attempt early in the third and Scott Zurnacian registered an even strength goal with 4:17 left in the quarter to increase the Santa Clara lead to 8-2.
David Maes scored a game-high four goals, including three in the second half, for the Sunbirds. His second goal, with 2:09 remaining in the third, snapped a scoreless stretch of 15:34 for Fresno Pacific. Maes' final score cut the deficit to 9-5, but there was just 2:10 left in the game.
Neither team was strong with the man advantage. The Broncos were 1-for-9, but they held the Sunbirds scoreless on all 12 attempts.
"The offense could have been better," Wilbur said. "Our 6-on-5 was not good, but our 6-on-5 defense was great."
Estrella had a solid two-way game for the Broncos who won their third-straight game.
"Dane Estrella had one of his better games," Wilbur said. "He's our 2-meter defender and played really good defense then got our offensive going with a couple early goals."
The Broncos are back in action Saturday when they travel to UC Davis to compete in the Aggie Roundup. Santa Clara plays Pacific at 8:20 a.m. and Cal at 3 p.m.
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