VIDEO: Water Polo Senior Day Recognition
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Kyra Christmas posted five goals and Karolina Hlavata tallied four for Pacific, which overcame an early deficit to defeat Santa Clara women's water polo 15-6 on Saturday.
The seventh-ranked Tigers, who had already clinched the No. 1 seed in next week's Golden Coast Conference Championship, scored four times late in the opening quarter to erase a 3-1 Santa Clara lead.
Lauren Paxton and Hailey Eberle each scored twice for the Broncos (12-16, 1-6) who will be seeded No. 7 in the league tournament, which begins Friday at Loyola Marymount.
Hlavata scored twice within 30 seconds to even the score at 3-all and Christmas made the cushion 6-3 midway through the second quarter.
Eberle followed with an exclusion goal on the following possession, but the Tigers (15-7, 7-0), who won for the fifth-straight time, pulled away in the third quarter, scoring five of the six goals.
"There were spurts where we did execute well. They are a very good team and it is good preparation playing a team like that heading into the conference championship," Santa Clara head coach Keith Wilbur said. "I thought we did some things well, but when we made mistakes they were able to capitalize on it."
Ellise Floreani and Nicole Blaney, a pair of graduating fourth-year juniors, made their final appearance at Sullivan Aquatic Center and were recognized pregame.
"I thought Ellise and Nicole both did well when they were in there," Wilbur said. "It's nice to see two seniors who have done a lot for the program play well in their last home game."
Lydia Dadd suffered the loss in net, but was credited with 13 saves.
Eberle, Hannah Buck and Maggie Oys drew a pair of kickouts, but the Broncos went 1-for-7 with the man advantage.
The Tigers connected on all three attempts with the extra attacker.
NOTES
• Lydia Dadd (goalie), Hannah Buck, Annie Eldredge, Maddy Gomes, Mara Dominguez, Maggie Oys and Hailey Eberle started for the Broncos.
• Eldredge has scored two or more goals in seven of the last eight games. She had one goal in Friday's game against LMU.
• Dadd registered double-digit blocks for the 12th game this season.
NEXT UP
Santa Clara begins play in the GCC Championship on Friday.
Connect with the Broncos on Social Media
• Athletics: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
• Women's Water Polo: Twitter | Instagram
