Polo ends dismal road trip with UOP loss
No. 4 Bruins blow
third-quarter lead,
lose 6-5 to Pacific
By Scott Yamaguchi
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
STOCKTON-After falling to Stanford and California in its annual
visit to the Northern California schools this weekend, the
fourth-ranked UCLA men’s water polo team had hoped that its first
ever game at University of the Pacific would provide some positive
note on which the Bruins could end an otherwise uninspiring road
trip.
Instead, UCLA was handed its third consecutive loss, a 6-5
heartbreaker that was decided in the final minute of Sunday’s game.
With 1:08 remaining in regulation, UCLA junior Tommy Wong was
ejected, leaving the Tigers with a 6-on-5 advantage. UOP was unable
to convert while Wong sat in the corner, but as the referee waved
Wong in, Pacific’s Antony Cullwick hurled a shot from beyond
eight-meters that slid past UCLA goalie Matt Swanson.
The two-point goal, which came with 0:46 left in the fourth
quarter, left the score at 6-5 and capped a Pacific comeback that
saw the Tigers erase a three-point third quarter deficit with four
points in the final period. More importantly, the result evened the
teams’ head-to-head competition record at 1-1, which could have a
dramatic effect on the distribution of NCAA Tournament bids later
this season.
Evidently, the UCLA squad that showed up Sunday was not the same
one that had hammered Pacific, 11-6, a week ago en route to a
third-place finish in the NorCal Tourney in Palo Alto.
The Bruins were sluggish from the outset, even sloppy at times.
Still, they led 1-0 at the end of the first quarter and 2-1 at
halftime. Mark Sutter had opened the scoring with 1:26 remaining in
the first quarter, and Jeremy Braxton-Brown put the Bruins ahead
2-1 with 0:46 left in the first half after Pacific had tied the
score at one on a four-meter penalty shot by Rey Rivera.
"If we had played the first and second quarters the exact same
way we played the third quarter, there could have been a completely
different result," UCLA head coach Guy Baker said. "We had so many
opportunities early in the game where we were up on our fast
breaks, but we weren’t finishing our counter attacks like we were
in the third quarter."
Had UCLA played the entire game as they did the third quarter,
the outcome would probably have been reminiscent of last week’s
game in Palo Alto. After Pacific tied the score again at 2-2, the
Bruins ran off three unanswered goals, starting with Sutter’s
second score with 4:27 remaining in the third period. Wong followed
with a goal of his own less than 30 seconds later, and
Braxton-Brown notched his second goal with 1:53 remaining in the
period to give UCLA a 5-2 advantage. That, however, would finish
the scoring for the Bruins.
"We had a big lead going into the fourth quarter, but it was
over – the guys just didn’t want to work hard during the game to
finish it off," Baker said.
Rivera began the fourth quarter barrage for the Tigers by
scoring with 6:36 remaining, and Jude Allen opened the door for
Cullwick’s heroics with a 6-on-5 conversion 3:48 into the
period.
"(UOP head coach John) Tanner just told us to take it one goal
at a time," Kipp said, " and he let us know that the game was by no
means out of our reach.
"But we all knew that."