Deafening defeat for water polo in Berkeley
No. 3 California turns back UCLA
as Bears roll over No. 4 Bruins 8-5
By Esther Hui
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
BERKELEY — The tall walls surrounding the Berkeley pool loomed
threateningly as the No. 4 UCLA men’s water polo team was crushed
by No. 3 California 8-5 before a raucous, filled-to-capacity crowd
last Saturday.
The Bruins’ (10-6 overall, 1-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation) communication faltered amidst the frightening echoes of
the arena-like pool. UCLA converted on only one of eight man-up
situations, while Cal was able to convert four of eight man-ups for
points. Several Bruin passes sailed over the receivers’ heads and
out of bounds or into the arms of the opposing team.
The Bruins had hoped to defeat the Bears again, after upsetting
them, 12-10, for the first time in three years at last weekend’s
Northern California Tournament.
"(Man-up) situations were the difference in this game," UCLA
head coach Guy Baker said. "(Scoring on) one out of eight is really
bad. We knew what to do, we talked about it, we had the ball in the
right spot. We just didn’t do a good job. I think our inexperience
showed. We looked rattled the whole game."
The game remained scoreless until the final four minutes of the
opening quarter when an unguarded Mike Sparling scored the first
point for Cal. UCLA answered when Jeff Porter got off a shot at the
buzzer to tie the game 1-1 going into the second period.
Ten minutes into the second quarter, Cal capitalized on a UCLA
ejection with an inside shot to take a 2-1 lead which they never
relinquished.
Although the first half was characterized with nail-biting
closeness, the second was marked with frustrating errors by the
young Bruin squad.
UCLA won the opening possession, but when a Tommy Wong pass to
Jim Toring went out, Cal’s Brian Dilaver broke for a fast drive to
score.
Things looked up for the Bruins when Wong scored the only
two-point goal of the game to tie the score at 3-3 with less than
five minutes to play in the third quarter. But breakdowns in the
defense resulted in unanswered points by the Bears, including one
in a man-up situation.
"Thinking-wise, we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be," UCLA
assistant coach Matt Emerzian said. "We weren’t playing smart water
polo. This was the first big crowd we’ve played in front of, we
were nervous. It’s hard to hear each other out in the pool. The
smarter you play, the easier it is to play."
UCLA’s only goal during a man-up situation came 10 minutes into
the final quarter when Mark Sutter scored on a follow-up to a
blocked shot to bring UCLA within one point.
As time ran out, the shouts and boos of the crowd were
deafening. Cal scored three more times, interrupted by just one
UCLA shot, as the Bears went on to an 8-5 victory.
"We didn’t do a good job controlling the things we could
control," Baker said. "When you’re on the road the home team gets
certain advantages. We didn’t do a good job on the counterattack,
the fast break, and man-up situations. We were very poor in those
areas."