Oct. 3, 2007

Weekly Release in PDF Format

Santa Clara, Calif. -- The Santa Clara men's water polo team will participate in the Convergence Classic this weekend at Pomona-Pitzer. The Broncos are fresh off their first top 20 ranking since the beginning of the season and will go up against conference foes Whittier and Pomona-Pitzer on Friday and then against Brown and WWPA opponent Cal Lutheran on Saturday.

The Broncos faced Whittier earlier in the year, beating them 13-5, but this will be the first and only time all season they will see the other teams. The game against tournament host Pomona is set for Friday night, so the team expects a big crowd and a big challenge. "That's a game where we're anticipating a good matchup and we're going to have to come out and play well," said head coach Keith Wilbur.

Then on Saturday, Santa Clara will go against Brown, who is actually tied for 20th in the national rankings. "I think both teams will kind of have that in the back of their head when they play and it will add a little bit extra to the game," said Wilbur. "I know Brown is one of the top five or six teams in the east, so it will be a good test to see how we'll fare against an east coast team since our trip to Princeton at the beginning of the year.

The Broncos then go up against Cal Lutheran in the final game of the weekend. "Cal Lutheran surprised some people with some wins last season, and they haven't graduated anybody from last season either," said Wilbur. "That's going to be a tough game as well."

The team is coming off of a 1-2 weekend which included a tough loss to conference leader UC Davis where the Broncos relinquished a three goal lead in the fourth quarter. "That game was a real tough loss to swallow," said Wilbur. "If anything it was a learning experience for the guys, but we know that we can play with one of the top teams in the conference."

One hump the Broncos have to get over is finishing a close game. "We've got to learn to take a lead and build on it instead of just trying to hold onto it," said Tommy Kelly.

Right now, the Santa Clara players are focused on taking things one at a time. "We're trying to play one quarter at a time, keeping a high energy quarter by quarter," said Josh Early.

Wilbur has been encouraged by what he's seen in the pool this week. "They're not mulling over the loss," he said. "But they're upset about it and they're motivated by the fact that they can win [the WWPA's]. Everyone has had a positive attitude and they're coming out and working hard."

The Convergence Classic kicks off for the Broncos Friday, October 5th at 2:20 p.m.

QUOTES

Robert Callahan on filling roles: Earlier in the season we were still finding out who was going to step up offensively and now we found those guys. Tommy Hendrickson, Josh Early, and Liam Farrell were the guys who stepped in to fill those roles and they've been coming through for us.

Early on strategy: We play well when we have the other team playing on their heels and we dictate the outcome of the games. Earlier in the season we were waiting to see what the other teams were doing and now we're running our own game.

Tommy Hendrickson on the team's offense: When we get in that flow, we're just in the groove and we keep on scoring. Once we start scoring we're not going to stop because we get fired up and get fired up to get stops on defense and play hard on offense.

Kelly on the team's offense: It's pretty widespread scoring. When we're making passes and everyone is playing well it's just more fun that way. You don't know who's going to have a great game each game.

	SantaClaraBroncos.com
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