Feb. 19, 2016
San Jose, Calif.----- Senior Rae Lekness scored a season-high six goals and three San Jose State University goalkeepers combined for 14 saves leading the Spartans to a 9-5 non-conference women's water polo win over Santa Clara University.
Lekness scored the first two goals of the match for the #10-ranked San Jose State (7-6) which ended a three-game losing streak as the Spartans led from start to finish. The leading scorer in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) now has 39 goals for the season. Her 235 career goals tie for 15th place on the MPSF list.
It feels nice. We needed a good solid win," said Lekness, who scored the Spartans' two power-play goals on two Santa Clara ejections.
"Every match, we need her to step up and she does," Spartans' head coach Johnny Bega said.
Alicia Magliocco, Tayler Peters and Sara Northam combined for a team season-high 14 saves. Magliocco started, played the first quarter and was credited with one save. Peters anchored the defense in a busy second quarter and stopped five Santa Clara shots. Northam matched her career high of eight saves in a match playing the entire second half.
"Our defense did real well shutting down Santa Clara when we needed to. We had some ejections against us, but it was good overall team defense. Our goalies did a solid job," said Bega whose team stopped 9-of-11 Broncos' power plays.
McKenna Yates, Donia Momen and Kelli Leabo also scored for San Jose State.
Elle Surber led the Broncos (2-5) offensively with three goals.
"We did some nice conditioning, which was super fun. We worked a lot on our tactics, cleaning things up and making sure everybody knew what they were doing," Lekness said about the Spartans' 12 days off prior to playing Santa Clara. "We're a young team and we're still trying to learn to play with each other."
San Jose State returns to action, Saturday, February 26 in the two-day, 16-team UC Irvine Invitational. The Spartans' first opponent is #6-Hawaii, a 7-5 winner over San Jose State in the UC Santa Barbara Winter Invite.
San Jose State University women's water polo
The Aquatics Center, San Jose, Calif.
February 19, 2016
Non-conference match
| Score by Quarters | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Santa Clara (2-5) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| #10-San Jose State (7-6) | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
Goal scoring
Santa Clara -- Elle Surber, 3; Blair Akerland, Hannah Buck, 1, each.
San Jose State -- Rae Lekness, 6; McKenna Yates, Donia Momen, Kelli Leabo, 1, each.
Goalkeeper saves
Santa Clara -- Francesca Puccinelli, 11.
San Jose State -- Alicia Magliocco (1 quarter), 1; Tayler Peters (1 quarter), 5; Sara Northam (2 quarters), 8.
Ejections
Santa Clara -- 2.
San Jose State -- 11.