SANTA CLARA, Calif. - One season after featuring a senior-laden lineup, Santa Clara women's water polo will field a young, but fairly experienced squad in 2018.

The Broncos return their top two scorers, but will need to replace six seniors, all of whom figured prominently in the 2017 rotation.

Junior Hannah Buck was the most productive player on the team a season ago, leading in both goals (43) and kickouts drawn (67). Fellow third-year player Annie Eldredge was second in goals (33) and tied for second in steals (25).

Santa Clara will have to replace four field starters in Cathy Cantoni, Blair Akerland, Keri Clifford and Susan Providenza, as well as No. 1 goalie Francesca Puccinelli.

"We graduated a big senior class so there is a lot of new faces," head coach Keith Wilbur said. "We also have quite a few underclassmen who had big roles last year. It's nice those players come back with experience so I feel like it's a very different team personnel wise."

Junior Mara Dominguez, along with sophomores Maggie Oys and Hailey Eberle, all scored 10 or more goals in 2017 while playing in nearly every game. In addition, sophomore Lydia Dadd saw 10 games as a reserve in net.

With three weeks of preseason practice under their belt, the new-look Broncos, featuring nine freshmen on the roster, open the season Saturday at Cal State Monterey Bay.

"I think our freshmen class is really up to speed quicker than usual" said Wilbur. "I see a lot of freshmen being able to contribute, which is a good thing. I think our team came back in pretty good shape so we started with a good base."

The Broncos also opened last season at Cal State Monterey Bay, coming away with an 11-9 win.

Saturday's game against the Otters is set to begin at noon from the Otter Tank.

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