Broncos Lose on Bellomy

By Tom Schreier

In battle for Bay Area bragging rights, the Santa Clara club lacrosse team fell to University of California-Berkeley on Saturday afternoon by a score of 15-11. It was the third consecutive loss for the Broncos, whose record fell to 7-7 with the defeat.

 Captains Matthew Baker, who did not practice all week due to a hamstring injury, and Bennett DeLozier, who injured his ankle  last week, opted to play with their injuries rather than sit out and miss a chance to take part in defeating their Bay Area rivals.

The Broncos had been dealing with the injury bug all season leading up to the team's contest on Saturday.

"We're putting it together with bubble gum and baling wire right now," said Head Coach Gary Podesta. "We've got so many key guys hurt and playing less than 50 percent."

Despite the loss, just the presence of Baker and Bennett in the game against Berkeley was reassuring to their teammates.

"Both (are) emotional leaders of this team," said junior Kevin Fitzsimons. "They have been leading us all year, and not having them in practice and knowing that they both weren't 100 percent today, it definitely was noticeable."

Santa Clara led 7-4 at halftime, but gave up three straight goals in the first five minutes of the second half.

The score was tied 9-9 entering the fourth period, but the Bears scored within the first six seconds of the frame to take a lead that they would never relinquish.

"We came out swarming in the first half," said senior Alex Miller. "Penalties started to get the best of us, and when you're playing a man down, (you) can't attack on offense."

As the penalties began to mount for Santa Clara, the Bronco faithful on the Bellomy Field benches became animated. The fan chiding was generally good-natured, but became more hostile after Cal scored four straight goals in the fourth period. At one point in the final quarter, an empty water bottle was thrown from the stands.

"These refs are good," said Podesta. "They're a bunch of my buddies. They know when it's important in a close call."

There was also friction between the Santa Clara and Cal fans.

One particular Bears supporter ventured across the invisible border between the two fan sections and taunted the Santa Clara fans. 

In order to regulate fan behavior, Santa Clara recently cracked down on alcohol possession at Bellomy Field.

"They're not letting (the fans) in drunk anymore so they're a whole lot better," said Podesta.

The fans stuck around until well after the game and greeted the players as they removed their pads.

"Our last home game (is always) against Cal or Stanford," said Miller. "We love having the fans out, and that's what's given us momentum to keep playing."

Santa Clara will travel to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to take on the Mustangs this weekend. The Broncos will then close out the regular season with another road game in Palo Alto against the Stanford Cardinal next Tuesday.

Contact Tom Schreier at tschreier@scu.edu or (408) 554-4852.