Oct. 7, 2005

Claremont, Calif. - The Santa Clara men's water polo opened up the 13th Annual Convergence with two victories over Western Water Polo Association conference rivals Occidental College and Chaminade College. Winning five out of their last six games has given the 20th-ranked Broncos (10-6, 9-4 WWPA) a boost of confidence, but head coach Keith Wilbur knows that his team will need to stay focused for the rest of the weekend.

"We had two wins which to start out the tournament," said Wilbur. "We have two more games tomorrow against Harvard and Claremont and both those games should be competitive. We're off to a good start and we have to maintain our focus and drive for the next two games."

In the opening match, Santa Clara overpowered Occidental College 8-2, as five different players scored. Matthew Martin led the offensive charge, tossing in three goals, while Kevin Starry put in two goals. Austin Brizgys, Tom Kelly and Tom Hendrickson all chipped in with a goal. In the cage, SCU was lead by Mike Petersen and Jon Young, as the duo combined for six blocks. The Broncos also got solid contributions from Jon Greco (two assists, two steals) and Josh Early (four assists, one steal).

In the afternoon match, SCU overwhelmed Chaminade College 16-8 with Mike Detoy and Jack Wall pitching in three goals apiece. In addition, Early, Grant Allison and Chris Parolin added two goals each, while Brizgys, Starry, Greco and Whit Gilfillan all chipped in with a goal. Parolin also assisted on two scoring opportunities for the Broncos. Once again, Petersen and Young split time at goalie and they combined to stop six shots.

Santa Clara returns to action tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. against Harvard, and then returns later in the afternoon to take on host Claremont College at 12:30 p.m.