LOS ANGELES – Corcordia withstood multiple rallies using an efficient offense to defeat Santa Clara women's water polo 8-5 on Sunday in the seventh-place game of the Golden Coast Conference Championship.
Dailynn Santoro scored twice, the only multi-goal producer for the Eagles (6-18) who had only 19 shots on net.
Annie Eldredge had three goals, two assists and two steals for the Broncos (12-19) who generated 33 shots, but goalkeeper Ariana Olmos had 17 blocks.
"Our defense was ok and we created a lot of looks but we were having a hard time finishing," head coach Keith Wilbur said.
After trailing by two goals late in the opening quarter, the Broncos three times crept within one until the Eagles pulled away with a pair of strikes in the final 3 minutes of the third.
Eldredge scored on an exclusion midway through the third to cut the deficit to 5-4, but Concordia's Hanna Jordan fed Lindsey Heaney for a goal one minute later.
Ramsie Haskell then made it a three-goal cushion by scoring with 1 second left in the third period.
Eldredge scored early in the fourth to pull Santa Clara within 7-5, but Olmos made five saves in the final 6 minutes to preserve the victory on the final day of the three-day event, which was held at Loyola Marymount.
"We're not shooting the ball as well," Wilbur said. "Our offense kind of disappeared this weekend which was bad timing for us and frustrating."
Hailey Eberle had one goal, two steals and drew one of the five kickouts on the Eagles.
Each team was 1-for-5 with the extra attacker. Eldredge scored on a 5-meter attempt in the opening quarter.
Lydia Dadd made five saves for the Broncos.
NOTES
• Lydia Dadd (goalie), Hannah Buck, Annie Eldredge, Maddy Gomes, Mara Dominguez, Maggie Oys and Hailey Eberle started for the Broncos.
• Dadd, Buck, Eldredge, Oys and Eberle started all 31 games this season. Kelly Frumkin and Gabi Sicat joined Gomes in appearing in every contest.
• Eldredge matched her career-high in goals (three) for the eighth time, including third time this season.
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"We're a young team and we got a lot of good experience throughout the year, but I still think conference championship is another level. For a lot of our players, this was their first time playing a lot in this situation. We graduated five seniors last year and even though the younger players saw a lot of action this season, the pressure of this weekend was something new for them. They learned from it and we should be able to do better with more experience going into next year."
Head coach Keith Wilbur
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