Nov. 14, 2006

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara Broncos announced today that they have received the fourth seed at the Western Water Polo Association Championships which begin Thursday, November 16th in Pomona, Calif. Despite a 13-14 overall record, the Broncos had a very strong season in the WWPA, finishing 11-3. With the fourth seed, the Broncos will open the tournament on Friday, November 17th at 9:00 a.m. against No. 5 seeded Air Force, whom the Broncos defeated on October 29th by a score of 12-8 in Davis, Calif.

"We're pretty happy. One of our goals was to make it into that 4 or 5 game", said head coach Keith Wilbur. "We've played Air Force before, and we played them pretty tough. I think we definitely have a shot at making it to the semifinals, so we're ready for the challenge."

With the fourth seed, Santa Clara enjoys the luxury of what is almost like a first-round bye, as seeds 6-10 play-off for what would be the seventh and eighth spots in traditional single-elimination brackets. However, the WWPA tournament is not single-elimination, and all ten teams will continue play through Sunday afternoon and receive a ranking of first through tenth at the end.

The No. 1 seed went to UC San Diego, who finished the season 22-5 overall and 12-1 in the WWPA. San Diego handed the Broncos a 12-7 defeat on Saturday, October 28th. Defending champions Loyola Marymount, whom the Broncos upset on October 21st in Davis, Calif. by a score of 9-6 earned the No. 2 seed, and UC Davis, the only team to defeat Santa Clara twice this season, once in overtime, is seeded No. 3.

Final WWPA Standings
Seed/Team  W  L  Pct.  vs. WWPA  vs. T-20*  Home  Away  Neutral 

1. #5 UC San Diego  22  5  0.815  12-1  17-5  7-0  4-3  11-2 
2. #7 Loyola Marymount  16  12  0.571  8-4  12-12  7-3  1-3  8-6 
3. #14 UC Davis  13  14  0.481  8-4  9-14  4-5  4-5  5-4 
4. #17 Santa Clara  13  14  0.481  11-3  4-12  1-1  1-5  11-8 
5. #16 Air Force  12  15  0.444  8-5  5-15  4-6  2-1  6-8 
6. #19 Redlands  22  9  0.710  9-5  2-8  9-2  5-1  8-6 
7. Pomona-Pitzer  15  17  0.469  9-9  1-12  6-1  5-6  4-10 
8. UC Santa Cruz  7  20  0.259  5-9  1-17  2-7  0-3  5-10 
9. Whittier  10  17  0.370  7-10  0-7  3-1  1-5  6-11 
10. La Verne  11  13  0.458  6-7  0-6  8-6  1-3  2-4 

Claremont  13  14  0.481  7-9  0-9  6-5  2-3  3-8 
Chapman  11  14  0.440  3-10  0-5  4-0  2-8  5-6 
Occidental  7  19  0.269  0-15  0-5  1-2  2-4  4-13