Sports Briefs
Compiled by Robert Haugh & Melissa McKenzie

Santa Clara Bruins Put up Shutout Win over Del Mar. Sophomore RB Adam Garza opened the scoring with an 11-yard TD run in the third quarter, then returned a punt 70 yards for a TD as well, giving the Bruins their second win of the year in a 21-0 shutout over the Del Mar Dons on Friday, September 16 at Bruins Field. The Bruins’ fourth quarter score was a 27-yard TD pass from Senior QB Jason Plater to Senior SE/DB Kingsley Okakpu. Junior K Justin Duerksen was 3-for-3 on PATs while Junior LB TJ Towns recorded four sacks on Defense, with Senior LB Garrett Mintz adding two sacks. Junior Jason Aguirre led the Bruins with 12 tackles. The Bruins (2-1) host cross-town rival Wilcox (0-2) in the Annual Mission City Bowl game on Friday, September 23 at Bruins Field. The Chargers are coming off of a bye week after opening the season with losses to Terra Nova and Serra by a combined 94-14. The Chargers have been fighting injury woes and debuted a new offense under new Head Coach Dan Brown, steering away from Wilcox’s fabled veer offense.

In the past seasons, the Chargers, a De Anza division team, have dominated the Bruins, an El Camino division team.

Last year, the Chargers pounced the Bruins 34-0. Over the past seven years, the Chargers have defeated the Bruins by a combined 289 to 37 points, with three shutouts with the most points scored by Santa Clara being 10 in 2007.

The Chargers are hoping to have another dominating performance against the Bruins as they head into SCVAL De Anza division play the following week at Los Gatos then reigning state champion Palo Alto.

Wilcox’s Kathy Ohe is Gold Medalist in Girls Golf. Though the Chargers Fell to Santa Teresa 324-355, Ohe shot 39 (Par 36) to be the gold medalist in the matchup on September 13 at Santa Clara Golf & Tennis Club.

Santa Clara University Men’s Soccer Beats Cal, Improves to 4-1-1. For the first time in 30 years, the Broncos beat Cal on the road. After trailing early, redshirt senior David Castellanos evened the score in the 36th minute and junior Erik Hurtado added a second just before halftime. Sophomore Phillip Muscarella put the Broncos up 3-1 in the 49th and despite a Cal goal in the 69th, freshman Glenn Vass added a late game nail in the coffin to give the Broncos the 4-2 victory.

Santa Clara University Women’s Soccer Loses to Stanford 2-0. Stanford shutout the Broncos at Buck Shaw Stadium on Sunday, September 18. Despite a few good scoring chances, Stanford’s two goals in the first were too much for the Broncos to overcome.

Santa Clara University Women’s Volleyball, goes 2-1 at the University of Texas Tournament. After dropping the first match to University of Texas, the Broncos rebounded by winning matches against University of Texas-San Antonio and Southern Methodist University. In the 3-2 victory over UTSA, SCU was lead by senior captain Tanya Schmidt with 13 kills, one block and three block assists. Junior Kaleigh Durket added a team-leading 15 kills and 10 digs and redshirt sophomore Katherine Douglas picked up 12 kills. It took all five sets for the Broncos to beat SMU in the final match of the Time Warner Cable Texas Invitational. Individually, Douglas led the game with 24 kills, followed by Durket with 18 kills and freshman Taylor Milton with 14 kills.

Santa Clara University Men’s Water Polo goes 2-2 at Nor Cal Tournament. Over the weekend, the Broncos dropped their opening game to Pacific 16-9, but rebounded with wins over St. Francis (9-6) and West Valley Junior College (12-9). The Broncos then traveled to UC Davis where they lost 10-7. In the loss to Pacific, goals were scored by senior Marcus Akerland (2), redshirt sophomore Jimmy Moore (2), redshirt sophomore Theo Nasser, senior Brett Zylstra, senior James Case and freshman Kyle Surber. In the win over St. Francis, sophomore Tucker Carlson and Case led the offense scoring two goals apiece followed by redshirt senior Daley Meistrell, sophomore David Guibord, Akerland, Nasser and Zylstra. Senior goalie Michael Wishart made 18 saves in the victory. In the win over West Valley JC goals were scored by junior Patrick Weiss (3), Case (3), freshman Mark Davis, redshirt freshman Matt Kochalko, Ackerland, Moore, Nasser and Surber. And, in the loss to UC Davis, goals were scored by Case (2), Akerland, Guibord, Moore, Nasser, and Surber.

Erik Hurtado Named Back-to-Back WCC Player of the Week. On September 19, the WCC announced that for consecutive weeks, SCU junior attacker Erik Hurtado would be its Player of the Week. Hurtado, who leads the league in most offensive categories, has become an early candidate for the league’s Player of the Year.