SANTA CLARA, Calif. – After playing 12 games on the road or at neutral sites to start the year, the Santa Clara women's water polo team returned to Sullivan Aquatic Center on Saturday and came away with a pair of victories, downing the CSU Monterey Bay Otters, 13-4, before knocking off the No. 19 Hartwick Hawks, 11-10, in a thriller.

Senior Elle Surber, who totaled seven goals on the day, scored the game-winner for the Broncos (6-8) with less than 3 minutes left vs. the Hawks (13-7), sending Santa Clara to its first victory over a ranked team this season.

Elizabeth Anderson's two goals helped the Broncos jump out to a 5-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. Hartwick fought back in the second to cut SCU's lead to 8-7 at halftime. The Hawks came out strong in the second half, scoring three goals while holding Santa Clara scoreless and holding a 10-8 lead entering the final period.

"We hit a blip in the third quarter, not being able to score a goal," head coach Keith Wilbur said. "But that's part of being young and then realizing that, hey, we can actually win this game. We just kind of regrouped, talked about trying to expose certain things that they were giving us and kept playing good defense which kept us in the game."

An early goal from freshman Mara Dominguez brought the Broncos back to life in the fourth. Goalkeeper Francesca Puccinelli saved two shots on the ensuing possession and Surber scored to tie the game at 10-all. Surber was awarded a penalty shot with 2:41 left and put the attempt past goalkeeper Michaela Davies.

The Bronco defense took care of the rest with Puccinelli contributing two key saves in the final minutes.

"Elle hit two big shots including the penalty that Elizabeth [Anderson] earned, but it was our freshman Mara that got us going when we had that big drought," Wilbur said. "It was nice to see a freshman come in and score a goal and kind of wake up the team to show we can do this."

Puccinelli had 13 saves against Hartwick, which received three goals apiece from Katie McKenty and Zsofia Polak.   

"Different people stepped up in the end and hit goals which is nice," Wilbur said. "Francesca is doing a great job for us this season."

In the first game of the day, Santa Clara scored five goals in the first quarter while keeping CSU Monterey Bay (4-16) scoreless and never looked back. Hannah Buck, Dominguez, and Surber each contributed three goals on the way to the Broncos' second win of the season vs. the Otters.

"It's nice to play at home and get a couple good wins," Wilbur said. "Hartwick is a ranked team and that is our first win over a ranked team this year which makes it a real quality win."

After this brief stop at home, Santa Clara travels to Santa Barbara next weekend to play Harvard (Saturday) and UC Santa Barbara (Sunday, March 20).

The Broncos have three more games before opening Golden Coast Conference play.

"We have an interesting mix of seniors and younger players and I really think we've been kind of developing some experience and chemistry within this group, and it was nice to see it today," Wilbur said. "I've been telling them in practice that I want to see it in a game and they played a really good game this morning."