Aggie Shootout Tournament Central
Santa Clara, Calif.- After a busy weekend in Northern California, the Santa Clara women's water polo team will play only once this upcoming weekend against WWPA foe Sonoma St. on Sat., March 9th at 1 p.m. as they prepare for finals on the Mission campus next week.
Santa Clara (9-10; 5-2 WWPA) added two big WWPA wins over Cal St. San Bernardino at home in the Sullivan Aquatic Center and over Colorado St. at the UC Davis Aggie Shootout. On March 2, the Broncos knocked off Concordia for the second time this season, this time in overtime fashion 13-11. Despite holding their two ranked opponents to single digit-scoring outputs, the Broncos fell to No. 14 UC Davis 8-4 and No. 20 Pacific 9-4.
"I thought we played well on the weekend and the league wins over Cal St. San Bernardino and Colorado St. really helped us improve our record in conference," said Bronco head coach Keith Wilbur. "We had a real nice win over Concordia; and for the second time this year we had a big comeback late in the fourth quarter. We like playing those top 20 teams in UC Davis and Pacific, and I felt we were competitive with them. Our goal is to win those type of games and even though we didn't, I think the more we play them the closer we are getting to doing that."
The Broncos got all-around outstanding play from Julia Peters (San Jose, Calif.) throughout the weekend. Playing her best when it mattered the most, Peters seven goals in the Broncos two conference games while adding four assists, five steals and seven earned ejections on the weekend. Senior Alison Norris (Saratoga Calif.) scored five goals on the weekend while defensively the Broncos were led by junior Claire Eadington's Corona Del Mar, Calif.) six steals and senior Stephanie Clements (San Carlos, Calif.) 27 saves in the cage.
The Broncos now turn their focus to Sonoma State as the only game of the weekend for Santa Clara. It is their first of two meetings with Sonoma State as Santa Clara will play the Seawolves again later this year at home, six days before the WWPA championships kick off at the Sullivan Aquatic Center
"It's our last conference game and I believe if we win this game we will solidify the third seed in our conference," Wilbur said. "We have been really focusing in on these designated conference games and Sonoma State is our last one of the year. It's our only game of the weekend and Sonoma St. is a good team and well-coached, so we are going to come in focused and ready to play our best."
Despite being only a freshman, Peters is the first Bronco to reach the 30 goal plateau (31). Peters also leads the team with 23 steals while Eadington has assisted on 24 goals this season. This past weekend, Stephanie Clements reached 100 saves in a single season for the second time in her Santa Clara career.
For the very latest on Santa Clara water polo follow the Broncos on Twitter (@SCUPolo).
