SAN DIEGO – Led by its senior class, the Santa Clara women's water polo team closed out the season with a victory as the Broncos downed Azusa Pacific, 13-9, in Sunday's fifth-place game of the Golden Coast Conference Championship being held at San Diego State.
The seniors in the lineup accounted for much of the offensive and defensive production.
Elizabeth Anderson (career-high tying six) and Elle Surber (three) combined to score nine goals, and Erin Sheridan tallied five assists and four steals. Anderson had a team-high kickouts drawn and Surber posted a pair.
"The three seniors that played all had good games for us," head coach Keith Wilbur said.
Anderson, who earned a spot on the GCC All-Tournament team, had four goals during a second-period outburst when the fifth-seeded Broncos (11-15) seized control against the No. 6 seed Cougars (11-22).
After APU's Alex Paxton tied the game at 3-all just 23 seconds into the second quarter, Santa Clara scored five of the next six goals.
Anderson scored within one minute to give the Broncos a 5-3 lead and her final marker of the quarter made it 8-4 with 32 seconds on the clock.
Surber's second goal, with 4:29 left in the third, gave the Broncos a 10-6 advantage and the Cougars never got close than four the rest of the game.
"That was one of our better offensive games of the year," Wilbur said. "We had four goals on 6-on-5. They played well."
Subbing for an injured Sydni Estrella (concussion) for the second-straight game, goalkeeper Francesca Puccinelli tied her career high with 13 blocks.
"I thought we played well defensively as well as offensively all game," Wilbur said.
Cathy Cantoni and Susan Providenza each had two goals for the Broncos who were 4-for-8 on the man advantage.
"Susan did a really solid job defensively all game," Wilbur said.
Megan Myers and Alba Espinar each had three goals for the Cougars.
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