A brown bear, wearing a swimsuit, lounging on a cruise ship pool deck, while wearing sunglasses and a wry smile on its face might just be the most apt visual representation of the Santa Clara Bruins’ water polo victory over the Saratoga Falcons on Tuesday.

The Bruins let the Falcons hang around throughout the first half. Santa Clara held just a 6-3 lead deep into the second frame. However, a late goal right before half, followed by a dam-breaking third quarter, put the game away. Santa Clara built a 16-5 lead in the third stanza and cruised comfortably to the finish line from there. Eventually, the Bruins reached the 20-goal mark with its reserves in the pool. The win raises the team’s overall record to 10-6 and league mark to 5-1. 

A chill day in the pool for the Bruins featured multiple highlights, one particular nifty goal from junior Tad Ziemba. The crafty move to leave his defender in the dust caused a loud holler from the Bruins’ bench, “How did he do that!?”

“Obviously, it makes you feel good, nice to hear that [from teammates],” chuckled Ziemba after the game. “My mentality on those kinds of goals is to do whatever it takes to get that ball in the net. Don’t let off the gas; play until the whistle. Getting compliments from my teammates, it’s obviously really nice.”

While Ziemba shined with more of the individual acrobatic aquatic maneuvers, the Bruins also featured a dynamic duo in the pool. Childhood friends and now senior teammates Simon Sedlacik and Kiran Sivasubramanian seemed to have a unique knack for working together in the pool, like a pod of orcas. The pair certainly delivered a killer performance. Sivasubramanian assisted on multiple Sedlacik goals and scored on a long-distance shot himself in the first half. 

“They have some great passes this season back and forth; they have played together for four years now and have known each other even longer,” beamed Ziemba with pride on how well his two teammates work together. “They have a special bond, and it carries into the pool. It’s special to watch them play together.”

“We’ve known each other since elementary school,” chimed Sedlacik on his chemistry with Sivasubramanian. “We have been friends for like 10 years now. We run these plays where we talk beforehand. I’ll be like, ‘Hey Kiran, pass to me right off the goal and I’ll probably be open,’ and on one play in this game, I didn’t even think about it, but Kiran just quickly said, ‘Hey, run the thing,’ and I knew just to drive through and get the ball. It’s just kind of the chemistry you get after playing together for so long.”

Ziemba, Sedlacik, and Sivasubramanian may have led the way for the Bruins, but Santa Clara had multiple other contributors, as one could imagine in a 20-goal performance. Ethan Pham was a menace up front for the Falcons to handle. Pham scored multiple goals in the contest. Perhaps the best pass of the game came from Joshua Mechlin when his feed into the middle helped draw a penalty shot opportunity in the first quarter.

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