Veterans lead water polo in bid for championship

By Cecile Nguyen

The women's water polo team hopes their 11-5 win over Cal State East Bay on Friday night was a sign of things to come this season.

"It was an important game for us," said senior captain Emily Bonk, who had two goals in the win. "With the win, we set the tone for the rest of the season."

As is the case every year, the goal is to compete against tough opponents to prepare for a run at the Western Water Polo Association Championship.

Expectations remain high for the Broncos, who compiled an impressive 22-14 record last season before losing 7-5 to rival UC San Diego in the third-place match of the WWPA.

"Our number-one goal is to win conference and make NCAA," Head Coach Keith Wilbur said. "We finished third a couple of years ago and fourth last year. I think the top four teams in our conference are all capable of beating each other."

Santa Clara returned 10 of the 12 veteran players from last year's roster, five of whom were starters. Wilbur said that this team is more experienced and ready for the challenges of this season.

"We have a good senior class this year that can provide leadership to the team," said Wilbur, the reigning WWPA Coach of the Year. "We don't have to re-learn too much because we have so many veterans returning. They are already familiar with the system we run, and we're just going to perfect that this season."

The Broncos will be looking to their two senior captains, Bonk and Liz Perry, to lead the team.

"Our two captains are both very good players and leaders," Wilbur said. "Emily Bonk is one of our better, if not the best, outside shooter, and Liz has been our most valuable player on defense the last two years. Not only are they good players, but hard workers, and they're going to set the tone this year."

Four freshmen joined the team this season, and Wilbur expects Taylor Harkins to make immediate contributions. Harkins scored a goal in the win over East Bay.

"We have some good young players who are getting into the mix," said Wilbur. "The one freshman who probably will have the biggest impact would have to be Taylor Harkins. She's been doing really well in practice and comes from a very good high school water polo team that was one of the top five in the country."

Another key player for the Broncos is junior Claire Linney, who had a hat trick for Santa Clara in last week's win.

According to Bonk, one of the Broncos' greatest strengths this season is their depth and their team chemistry.

"We have a deep team, and we work well together," said the driver. "We have the potential to go far this year."

Defense has always been Santa Clara's forte, but this past offseason Wilbur stressed offense and an aggressive style of playing.

"We worked on how to open things up and our counter-attack," Wilbur said. "I'm really encouraging our good outside shooters to not pass up the shots when they have them. I want our shooters to be aggressive when they get the ball, attacking different defenses and learning how to be a shooting threat at all times, in all situations."

Santa Clara will be playing a tough opponent in Stanford on the road for their next game, but Wilbur said that this year's games will all be challenges for the Broncos.

"We have a lot of good games scheduled," said Wilbur. "But what's different from last year is that most of our games are scheduled toward the end of the year in March and April, which is good because we'll be playing good competition and getting ready for the conference championship."

Contact Cecile Nguyen at (408) 551-1918 or cnguyen5@scu.edu.