Santa Clara, Calif. - The No. 7 Pacific men's water polo team routed No. 15 Santa Clara 11-5 Sunday, October 30, in a nonconference match at the Sullivan Aquatic Center.
The Tigers improve to 10-8 with the win while the Broncos fall to 15-13 on the year.
Pacific set the tone early, scoring the first seven goals of the match. Sophomore Balazs Erdelyi scored three times in the first while junior Goran Tomasevic and senior Joey Doyle also netted to give the Tigers a 5-0 lead after one frame.
Seniors Tom Koning and Daniel Lungu found the back of the cage midway through the second quarter to keep the Tigers' run going. The hosts finally managed to get on the board with 2:41 left in the quarter. All told, Pacific held the Broncos scoreless for a little more than 13 minutes.
The two squads played even the rest of the way as the Tigers' eight-goal advantage proved too much for Santa Clara to overcome. Lungu and junior Balazs Szabo scored in the third frame while Lungu, Tomasevic, and senior Tucker Mattern tallied in the final quarter. For Mattern, it was his first career goal at Pacific.
Erdelyi and Lungu led all scorers with three goals apiece. Erdelyi upped his scoring streak to 16 consecutive matches while Lungu has now registered a hat trick in the Tigers' last two matches.
Senior Joey Frantz manned the cage for Pacific in a complete game effort.
Five different Broncos scores for Santa Clara. Senior Michael Wishart, who last week became the Broncos' all-time leader in career blocks, tallied nine saves.
Pacific will resume Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play Friday, November 4, in a 7 p.m.match at UCLA. The tilt will be the Tigers' second of four straight matches away from Kjeldsen Pool.
