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No. 12 Men's Water Polo to Take on No. 13 UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz
Oct. 8, 2008
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - After 17 road games, the No. 12 Santa Clara men's water polo team (12-5 overall, 6-1 conference) continues their road schedule with trips to No. 13 UC Davis on Saturday, Oct. 11 at noon in Davis, and UC Santa Cruz at noon on Sunday, Oct. 12 in Santa Cruz. Leading the Broncos this week is WWPA Top Performer redshirt junior Jack Wall, who has scored 34 goals this season. Wall, who is ranked 19th in the nation in goals scored is closely followed by junior Liam Farrell. Farrell is 21st in the nation in goals scored with 31. Freshman goalie Michael Wishart is fifth in the nation with 151 saves. Both Farrell and Wishart have each earned WWPA Top Performer honors this season, as well.
Bronco Rankings
The Broncos remain at the No. 12 spot in the national rankings for the second straight week. They entered the season at No. 15 and have steadily moved up the rankings with each win this season. Santa Clara is third in the WWPA rankings, followed by Redlands and UC San Diego, respectively.
Jack Wall Named WWPA Top Performer
Redshirt junior Jack Wall was named a WWPA Top Performer this week. Wall, who earns the conference honors for the first time this season, joins Liam Farrell and Michael Wishart, who were honorees this season already. He is ranked 19th nationally in goals scored with 34 in 17 games.
Wall, who missed last season due to injury, has jumped back into the lineup at full force, starting in all 17 games this season. Over this past weekend at the Convergence Tournament he scored 10 goals, notched five assists, posted five steals and had two kick outs drawn, leading then No. 12 Broncos to a perfect 4-0 on the weekend's play, and a 12-5 overall record. Versus Concordia College (Calif.) he scored a game-high five goals.
Scouting No. 12 UC Davis
This will be the second time this season that the Broncos will take on the Aggies of Davis. In their first meeting at the Slugfest Tournament at UC Santa Cruz, the Broncos defeated Davis, 10-8, for the first time in five seasons. Jack Wall led the Broncos offensive attack with six goals, as well as adding to the defensive depth with two steals. Chris Parolin had an assist and four kick outs drawn in the game, and Michael Wishart held the Aggies off the board with seven blocks and got in on the offensive game with an assist.
Davis enters this week well rested and come into this weekend's action after having a bye week. The Aggies (6-8 overall, 4-2 conference) look to get back in the win column after suffering their last loss versus Santa Clara in their concluding game at the Slugfest before their bye week. This season UC Davis is led by senior Adam Bennett who has scored 35 goals in their 14 games this season. Bennet is ranked 16th in the nation in goal scoring. In the net, redshirt freshman Kevin Peat is nationally ranked 17th, with 88 saves this season.
Scouting UC Santa Cruz
The Broncos will travel to UC Santa Cruz for the second time this season. The first was when they participated in the Slugfest Tournament hosted at UC Santa Cruz; however this will be the first time the Northern California squads will face each other.
The Banana Slugs (1-10 overall, 0-7 conference) look to get back in the win column after suffering nine straight losses. In their last game on Saturday, Oct. 4 they fell to Pomona-Pitzer 10-6 at the Convergence Tournament. Santa Cruz's last win was on Friday, Sept. 26 versus Cabrillo Junior College at Santa Cruz, 10-7, in a non-conference game.
