SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Bronco women's water polo team continues conference play this weekend, traveling to Southern California to face Cal Baptist on Friday and No. 18 San Diego State on Saturday. Santa Clara is 13-10 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
Last season, the Broncos beat the Lancers at home in a 15-14 thriller. Elle Surber led all scorers with four goals. Redshirt junior Julia Peters contributed three of her own, including the game winner to lead Santa Clara to the win.
Cal Baptist is 0-2 this season in conference play with their last game ending in a close 9-8 loss to Azusa Pacific. Junior standout Hannah Evans leads the Lancers with 101 goals on the season. Evans earned Player of the Week honors (Mar. 18) after scoring seven goals, helping the Lancers to two wins. She currently leads the conference in goals scored and goals scored per game, averaging almost four. Fellow junior Meghan Rowland anchors the defense in the cage and also leads the conference with 224 saves.
The Broncos lost a hard fought game at home against the Aztecs last season with a score of 7-6. Peters led the Broncos with three goals while Elizabeth Anderson contributed a goal of her own and several earned ejections.
San Diego State currently sits in first in the conference at 4-0, but dropped their last game to No. 6 Hawaii 8-2. Caroline Israels and Ioli Benekou lead the Aztecs on offense with a combined 89 goals. Junior goalkeeper Rachel Mitchell has kept the Aztecs defense tough, earning 216 saves in 27 games this season.
The Broncos look to keep their momentum going this weekend after picking up their first conference win of the season over Fresno Pacific. Anderson provided the spark for the Broncos with four goals in the 9-7 win.
Peters continues to lead the Bronco offense with 44 goals in 22 games this season. Junior goalkeeper Sydni Estrella keeps a tight lock on the goal with 174 saves on the season.
After this weekend the Broncos will have two more regular season games against Loyola Marymount and Azusa Pacific before heading into the Golden Coast Conference Championship Tournament.
