San Diego, Calif.- After breaking into the top-20 for their outstanding performance last week, the No. 20 Bronco women's water polo team traveled down to San Diego for the Triton Invitational weekend. The Broncos picked up an early win against conference rival, No. 9 San Diego State, but lost their next three games.
The Broncos return home to play No. 2 Stanford on Feb. 12 at 4 pm. Be sure to come out and support your Broncos!
In their first game, the Broncos took down top-ranked Golden Coast Conference rival San Diego State in overtime.
The Broncos earned ejections early in the game to give them man-up opportunities. After not converting on their first opportunity, Elizabeth Anderson found the back of the next on their second man-up play to give the Broncos the lead. The Aztecs scored in the very last second of the first period to tie the game, one all.
The Aztecs went on a three goal, unanswered run to end the second quarter with the advantage, 4-1. Julia Peters got the ball rolling for the Broncos to start the third quarter, bringing the Broncos within two. Kaitlin Murphy followed suit to make it 4-3, Aztec advantage. Erin Sheridan tied the game up at four all with a late goal to end the third quarter.
To start the fourth quarter, the Aztecs went on a two-goal run, making the game 6-4. Anderson put a stop to run and brought the Broncos back within one. The Aztecs went back up to a two-goal lead, but with goals by Elle Surber and Murphy, the game went into over time tied at 7-7.
The Aztecs hopped out early in the first overtime period, but Murphy answered right back to tie the game 8-8. Anderson found the back of the net in the second overtime period to give the Broncos the advantage and take home the major upset win over the Aztecs, 9-8.
In their next game of the day, the Broncos faced No. 10 Arizona State. The Sun Devils came out strong going on a seven-goal run. Surber finally put a stop to the run in the middle of the second quarter to make the game 7-1, Sun Devil advantage. Surber put in another goal and the second quarter ended 9-2.
Ashleigh Bandimere and Nicolette Blach scored their first goals of the tournament in the fourth quarter. The Sun Devils left the pool with the win, 19-4.
On the second day of play, the Broncos faced an early morning game against No. 15 Cal State Northridge. The Matadors scored the first goal of the game, but Claire Eadington tied the game up, 1-1. Surber also found the back of the net to give the Broncos a one-goal lead. The Matadors battled back for the lead and ended the first quarter 3-2.
The Matadors continued their run into the second quarter, scoring three more goals. Murphy squeezed on in at the end of the second to make it 6-3, Matadors with the lead.
Peters and Laura Burtness scored two more goals for the Broncos and the game ended 13-5, Matadors with the win.
The Broncos went on to play for seventh place against No. 8 UC San Diego. Peters battled and scored two back-to-back goals to end the first period, 4-2 Triton advantage.
Sheridan started off the second quarter with a goal to bring the Broncos within one. Anderson scored in the final minute of the quarter, but the Tritons still had the lead at 5-4.
The Tritons were able to bust the game open in the final two quarters. Murphy, Sheridan and Peters each had one more goal, but the Tritons won the game 11-7.
