DAVIS, Calif. - The No. 15 Santa Clara men's water polo team split a pair of games today in the Aggie Shootout, falling to UC Davis, 5-4, and defeating Redlands, 12-6.
The match against No. 11 UC Davis was tight throughout it entirety. The Broncos established a 2-0 lead in the first half on goals by juniors Daley Meistrell and James Case. Case scored just 1:37 into the game and Meistrell capitalized on the power play with 4:32 to go.
Senior Josh Luebke made it 3-0 Santa Clara in the second quarter, scoring on another man up situation with 3:27 left before halftime, but the Aggies responded with two goals at 1:15 and 0:41 to pull within one by halftime.
In the third quarter, UC Davis took the lead for the first time in the game, scoring two goals near the halfway point of the quarter. Freshman Kyle Nadel tied it up for the Broncos with his first collegiate goal with 25 seconds left in the quarter.
The Aggies scored the go-ahead goal with 5:02 left to play, but gave Santa Clara two 6-on-5 situations to try to tie it up. Unfortunately for the Broncos, they were unable to beat UCD goalie Kevin Peat when they needed to the most.
Junior goalie Michael Wishart played all 32 minutes and finished with seven saves.
Against Redlands, seniors Mitch Klipa and Stephen Hobbs got it started for Santa Clara with three goals to start the game. The Bulldogs weren't shutout in the quarter though, scoring a goal on the power play with 1:32 left in the first.
The Broncos offense exploded for five goals by five different players in the second quarter. Scoring was Case, sophomore Patrick Weiss, and freshmen Travis Greco, Tucker Carlson and Nadel. Redlands scored once, bringing the halftime score to 7-2.
Luebke scored the only Santa Clara goal in the third quarter and the Bulldogs also scored once.
In the fourth quarter, Case scored twice and senior Nick Poggetti added his first goal of the weekend. Redlands managed three goals, but by then the game was too far out of reach as the Broncos went on to a 12-6 victory. Wishart finished the game with eight saves.
Santa Clara, now 6-6 overall, travels to Southern California next weekend for a single game against Chapman and also the SoCal Tournament.
