April 6, 2002

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University women's water polo team fell to ninth-ranked UC San Diego by an 18-4 score this morning at the Leavey Pool. The loss moved the Broncos to 18-11 on the season, while the Tritons improve to 16-9 overall.

Santa Clara continues a five-match home series this weekend at the Leavey Pool with a contest later this afternoon against 17th-ranked UC Irvine, who is currently 7-16 on the season, but plays San Jose State before visiting the Broncos. The match against the Anteaters will begin at 3 p.m. at the Leavey Pool.

The Broncos played a strong first quarter and although they were down 3-1, they had four shots bounce off the posts, including one at the buzzer. Kelley Mays was the lone goal scorer for SCU.

"We had our opportunities, but I'm going to ask our team to shoot even more in our second game this afternoon," Bronco head coach Steve Hanson said. "There were too many times when we were looking at the cage and didn't put a shot up."

Bronco Carly Carpenter started the second period with a steal, but it was all the home squad could manage. UCSD took advantage and jumped out to a 10-1 halftime lead. Tritons Kari Lyman and Elizabeth Keesey each scored twice in that frame, and one goal apiece was notched by Dana Tucker, Samara Silverman and Meris Bantilan-Smith. Keesey's second score was at the buzzer.

"I think we might have pressed too hard and lost a little bit of our ball control," Hanson said of the second quarter. "The score could have been closer, but we kept feeding their counterattack. Our breakdowns turned out to be very costly. This is a very good team that scored on us in transition too many times."

Santa Clara got back on the board in the third, when Mays fired a bullet to move the Broncos to an 11-2 score. Becky Hong had a nice lob from the right side with 17 seconds remaining in the quarter to make the score a 12-3 Triton advantage.

Keesey added three goals in the fourth quarter as UC San Diego closed the game with a 6-1 scoring run. Elizabeth Glotzbach closed scoring for the day when she tallied the Bronco's fourth goal, with 14 seconds remaining.

"We were physically outmatched in this game, but our girls did not back down, they did not quit," Hanson said. "That's the nature of this team, they stick to any challenge handed to them."

Triton goalie Stephanie Lombardo tallied seven goals in the cage, while her Bronco counterpart, Anne Ginotti, notched five.