SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Fresh off a pair of home wins, the Santa Clara women's water polo team heads back on the road this weekend for two games.
The Broncos (6-8) face No. 19 Harvard (14-4) at 10 a.m. Saturday and No. 13 UC Santa Barbara (11-8) at noon Sunday. Both of those games will be held at UCSB's Campus Pool.
On Saturday, Santa Clara, in its first home games of the season, knocked off No. 19 Hartwick, 11-10, led by Elle Surber's four goals, which landed her Golden Coast Conference Player of the Week honors.
The Broncos, who are receiving votes in this week's CWPA national poll, also downed Cal State Monterey Bay, 13-4, on Saturday.
"Last weekend we played well both games and beat a ranked team so it's a good confidence builder and both teams this weekend are good as well," head coach Keith Wilbur said.
With quarter finals completed this week and spring break coming up next week, the Broncos are ready to hit the road again.
"We look forward to going on the road during spring break," Wilbur said. "It's not too fun to stay at home during the break and Santa Barbara is a fun destination. Plus, we're looking forward to playing two quality teams."
Harvard, which is tied for No. 19 in this week's CWPA national poll, is led by freshman Kristen Hong who has team highs in goals (46) and steals (27).
UC Santa Barbara combined to score 40 goals in its last two games. The Gauchos, led Lauren Martin with a team-high 36 goals and Taylor Shore with 34, downed LaVerne, 21-6, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 19-1, on Saturday.
The Broncos are also looking to build on last weekend's victories with GCC play beginning on April 1 vs. Azusa Pacific.
"The quality of practices has been better," Wilbur said. "I think as a team we've been playing better and better in practice and we finally did throughout a weekend."
Surber, a senior, posted seven goals in those two games and leads the team with 29 on the season.
Junior Francesca Puccinelli picked up both wins in net last weekend and leads the team with 86 blocks, including 13 in Saturday's win vs. Hartwick.
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