Broncos Win First WWLL ChampionshipBox Score
Apr. 19, 2010  Story is courtesy of Lacrosse Magazine Online
WWLL Champ Santa Clara a Clear No. 1
WWLL Championship Live Blog
by David Ely | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
LOS ANGELES – For nearly the entire US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates (WDIA) season, the talk has been about parity.
Anyone in the top-10 can beat anyone on any given day. It’s a standard cliché coaches like to spew to make sure their players don’t take anyone lightly.
WDIA coaches around the nation were adamant that it was true this year.
But then No. 1 ranked Santa Clara had to smash that conventional wisdom to pieces this weekend during the WWLL tournament at UCLA.
A week after easily dispatching No. 2 Lindenwood 11-5 at the Lindenwood Invitational, the Broncos smoked No. 3 UC Davis 16-8 in the WWLL semifinals and then outscored No. 5 UC Santa Barbara 8-2 in the second half in a 12-6 title-clinching win.
So much for parity, at least at the top.
There’s a favorite heading into May’s US Lacrosse WDIA National Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Santa Clara made that abundantly clear.
“I would say they’re hands down the No. 1 seed,” UCSB coach Paul Ramsey said moments after his club lost to Santa Clara.
It’s easy to understand why Ramsey would be that sure in his thinking.
UC Santa Barbara (12-3) had advanced to the final game in a loaded WWLL tournament, and the Gauchos played well in a first half that ended tied at 4.
But that’s when the Broncos (18-1) kicked into a higher gear that UCSB wasn’t able to match.
Santa Clara scored two quick goals to jump to a 6-4 lead. UC Santa Barbara briefly cut the game to 6-5 on a goal by Ashley Antoon-Algeria, but then Krista Shaw scored two of her four goals in a span of about 30 seconds and the rout was on.
“We knew that if they got their whole feeding and cutting offense started it was going to be a problem for us,” Ramsey said. “We did a pretty good job taking care of it for about 25 minutes of the first half -- definitely not the first five -- and we got back and made it 4-4
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