LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Santa Clara men's water polo put up a great effort on Saturday in the semifinal of the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Championships, giving the top-seeded Aggies of UC Davis all they could handle before ultimately falling 12-7 at the Burns Aquatic Center. 

The fourth-seeded Broncos, playing in their first WWPA Championship semifinal since 2019, will now look to finish thier stay in Los Angeles on a high note in tomorrow's third place game against two-seed LMU. The game is set for an 11 a.m. start. 

After quickly falling behind 2-0, Santa Clara (12-13) found the scoreboard courtesy of a Dominick Kirk goal. The Aggies anwered with a goal on their end, but Ford Eldredge responded with his first of three goals to cut the deficit back to 3-2 at the end of the first period. UC Davis dealt a major blow in the second period scoring four unanswered to build a 7-2 advantage, but SCU was ready to make a comeback bid with Zach Fales serving as the catalyst. The La Jolla native scored on back-to-back possessions to narrow the gap at 7-4 at the half.

Both defenses locked down in the third period allowing just one goal each to make it an 8-5 affair heading into the final frame. The Aggies scored quickly out of the gate to open the fourth, but Billy Barry answered with five minutes remaining to make it 9-6. UC Davis then put the nail in the coffin by scoring three more unanswered to make it 12-6 with just over two minutes to play. Eldredge struck true for his third goal of the game for the hat trick in the final minute, but that was as close as the Broncos would get. 

Chase Zamborelli played all 32 minutes in the net, concluding the game with nine saves and two steals. Eldredge had one steal to go with his hat trick.