April 23, 2007
STOCKTON, Calif. - The Santa Clara women's water polo team grabbed their second win of the afternoon and finished the weekend a perfect 3-0 following an 11-6 victory over the homestanding Pacific Tigers. Emily Bonk scored four goals in the victory, while Linney had a hat-trick of her own, bringing her weekend goals total to eight.
It was a back-and-forth game in which both teams struggled to score early on. Bonk got things started for the Broncos, but Pacific managed to tie the score 1-1 by the end of the first quarter.
In the second, Pacific got things started, but, with a 6-on-5 advantage, Emily Bonk tied the game 2-2. On the very next possession, the Tigers took a 3-2 lead, and just 19 seconds later, Amy Lamb tied it up again 3-3.
But this time, the Broncos took control and received back-to-back goals from Linney and Bonk to take a 5-3 lead. The teams would trade goals one more time before halftime, with Jenny Knutson responding to a Pacific goal to make the score 6-4 at the half.
In the third period, Linney and Bonk would each score again, extending the lead to 8-4 before Pacific snagged their first goal of the half. And then, the Broncos would score three straight goals. About halfway through the third, senior Katie Radvanyi got on the scoreboard, extending the Broncos lead to 9-5. Then again at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Radvanyi struck again to make it 10-5.
With just under five minutes remaining in the game, Linney completed her hat-trick to extend the lead to 11-5, and then with less than a minute remaining, Pacific managed to score a goal but it was too little too late in what was a great defensive performance by the Broncos. Kristen Barnes had eight blocks and a steal for Santa Clara in the cage.
With the regular season now complete, the Broncos (21-12,15-3) will await the announcement of their seed for the WWPA Championships, which will be held at UC Santa Cruz starting Friday, April 27.
Notes:
Andrea Evans' goal-scoring streak came to an end Sunday afternoon after going eight straight games scoring a goal. During that span, Evans scored 14 goals.
