Santa Clara University's women's water polo team rallied from a three-goal deficit to win on the road at Cal State East Bay, 9-8, in a key Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) matchup for both schools on Sunday. A counter-attack goal by Jenny Anderson from Gunn High with 42 seconds left was the difference.

Santa Clara (4-8; 2-2 WWPA), which will host the 2013 WWPA Championships this spring, had played seven ranked opponents through 11 games prior to facing Cal State East Bay (2-7; 1-2 WWPA).

"This was a big win for us," said Santa Clara head coach Keith Wilbur. "Every time we play (East Bay) it seems to be a battle; it's one of our rivalry games within conference. To win a game like this, and to show the mental toughness to comeback on the road against good competition, was big."

The Broncos had trailed by three goals late in the third quarter before a pair of scores by freshman Elle Surber pulled the Broncos to within one at 8-7.

With two minutes to play and needing a goal to tie, freshman Erin Sheridan (a Palo Alto resident and Sacred Heart Prep grad) drew a kick-out to allow SCU a man advantage, setting up the eqaulizer courtesy of classmate and team scoring-leader Julia Peters.

"We definitely had some momentum going in that fourth quarter," said Wilbur. "We were playing great defense and chipping away at the lead. We had to execute a 6-on-5 to tie it, and Julia (Peters) came up clutch."

Peters finished the day with two goals, three steals and drew two penalty shots. Anderson not only had the game-winning goal, she also had an assist and two earned ejections. Allison Norris had four earned ejections and senior goalkeeper Stephanie Clements from Sacred Heart Prep) was terrific, blocking a season-high 11 shots.

Jenny Anderson's younger sister, Elizabeth, scored twice and had three assists to help facilitate the comeback.

— Palo Alto Online Sports

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