Feb. 2, 2009
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The Santa Clara women's water polo team will travel to Southern California to participate in the Triton Tournament on Saturday, February 7, through Sunday, February 8, hosted by UC San Diego. The 16 team pool will consist of four four-team brackets. The winners of each respective bracket will then face each other in a semifinal and final round to determine the tournament winner. On Saturday, the Broncos, 3-3 overall, will take on No. 13 UC Irvine at 10:15 a.m. in the first round of play at San Diego's CV East Pool.
"This is the first year that we have a couple games under our belt before playing in this tournament," said head coach Keith Wilbur. "We played some really strong teams already and will face equally tough competition in San Diego. Hopefully we can use the experience from our first six games to help us be prepared for this weekend's action."
Last Time Out
Santa Clara enters this week's action after going 2-2 this past weekend at the 2009 NorCal Cup. The Broncos who split their results on both days, bounced back to decisively defeated University of Pacific, 8-2, after falling to then No. 10 San Jose State, 17-7, in the morning on the first day of play.
On day two, SCU kicked off the day with a double overtime win over Sonoma State, 8-7 (2OT), but could not carry that momentum into their afternoon and final contest of the weekend, as they fell to then fourth-ranked University of Hawai'i, 21-6.
Junior Meg Zimmerman had a standout weekend for SCU and was the Broncos' biggest offensive threat. The San Mateo, Calif. native tallied 11 kick outs drawn, scored three goals, drew a 5-meter penalty and posted a steal. In their first collegiate tournament freshmen Marina Allen and Laura Espinosa each had a strong weekend coming off the bench. Allen scored three goals, had two assists and steal, and Espinosa posted two assists, two steals, two kick outs drawn and a scored a goal.
Scouting No. 13 UC Irvine
The thirteenth-ranked Anteaters of UC Irvine enter this weekend's tournament with an undefeated, 3-0 overall record. In their first three games of the season, they decidedly defeated their opponents by margins of five points or more. This past weekend they hosted the UC Irvine Mini Tournament, where they kicked off their 2009 campaign. They defeated Pomona-Pitzer, 18-3, Cal State Bernardino, 21-3, and closed out the day's action with a, 12-7, win over Hartwick College.
Under fourth year head coach Dan Klatt, UCI returns 12 letterwinners and welcomes four freshmen. Irvine is led by senior Gianna Rossi, who currently is fourth all-time in goals scored for the Anteaters. Rossi scored 10 goals in Irvine's first three games.
