SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara women's water polo team played its last game of the regular season on Saturday against University of the Pacific, falling to the 17th-ranked Tigers, 11-3.
Prior to the Golden Coast Conference contest, Santa Clara also celebrated the four senior members of the team: Sydni Estrella, Elizabeth Anderson, Erin Sheridan, and Elle Surber.
The Broncos (10-14, 3-4) played a tough game but couldn't get the offense going against the Tigers (14-16, 6-1).
"The team played pretty tough," said head coach Keith Wilbur. "Honestly this is one of those games where we kind of just kept missing. A half inch here, half inch there a lot of shots that barred out could bar in and so when we don't hit those shots it kind of takes away from our offensive energy a little bit."
Santa Clara was unable to take advantage of 11 Pacific exclusions, going scoreless.
"I thought we did some good things, we were creating opportunities, we were getting kick outs but just weren't hitting as many shots as we'd like and that kind of adds up over the game" Wilbur said.
Pacific jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but Surber found the back of the net to cut the lead to 2-1. The Tigers scored a goal in the last minute of the quarter to make the score 3-1 entering the second. Pacific came out firing in the second, scoring four unanswered goals on the way to a 7-1 halftime lead.
Blair Akerland and Liliana King-Adas provided two more goals for Santa Clara but the Tigers scored four times in the second half.
Estrella tallied 13 saves for the Broncos. Surber had one goal and one earned ejection. Sheridan earned one ejection. Anderson earned two ejections and one penalty shot.
"The seniors – I thought they all played strong," said Wilbur. "I thought Sydni played really well in the cage that game. It's nice to get a win on Senior Day but they know that the big thing is conference playoffs coming up next week and that is our focus moving forward."
Santa Clara will be seeded fifth in three-day GCC Championship, which begins Friday at San Diego State. The Broncos will face No. 4 seed LMU in the opening round.
Connect with the Broncos on Social Media
