Water polo catching its breath for home
Bruins welcome end of Nor Cal road
trips, travel to Santa Barbara Friday
By Esther Hui
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It’s been a tough two weeks for the No. 4 UCLA water polo team
(10-7 overall, 1-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation). Seven
matches in 10 days, six of which were against nationally ranked
teams, and all of which were played on the road. This weekend’s
losses to Stanford, California and Pacific, however, were the last
lap of an arduous marathon of matches.
A mid-season lull has reached Westwood, and a few days of rest
will be allowed before the poloists head to Santa Barbara to begin
the second half of the season.
"We’re glad to be home," goalkeeper Matt Swanson said. "That was
definitely a tough two-week trip. It was a lot of playing and not
much practice time, so we definitely need a breather."
It has been over three weeks since the Bruins have not had to
travel 400 miles to get to their competition, and Friday’s match
against Santa Barbara will be the first game in just as long that
the Bruins have the luxury of focusing on one team.
It is also the first match this season that can be labeled an
emphatic must-win.
With a 1-3 record in conference play, the Bruins must win at
least three of the remaining four MPSF matches in order to finish
the regular season at .500. With remaining conference games against
Pepperdine, Stanford and Irvine  all strong teams  the
Santa Barbara contest is all the more important.
A loss on Friday could mean elimination from the NCAA tournament
for UCLA, and the eighth-ranked Gauchos have proven themselves
formidable with two wins over No. 5 Pacific this season. Sunday,
UCLA was beaten 6-5 by Pacific in Stockton.
"This weekend was a complete letdown," UCLA head coach Guy Baker
said. "I’m a big proponent for preparation, and we just didn’t have
a long time to prepare.
"Odds were against us for Stanford and California. We have every
excuse in the world and we can use every excuse in the world (for
why we didn’t win), or we can learn from it."
* * *
Saturday’s 8-5 loss to California amidst the howls of the fans
was a wake-up call for UCLA in more than one respect.
The arena-like setup of the Berkeley pool magnifies sound to a
dull roar, breaking concentration and preventing ease of
communication between players and coaches.
The acoustics in Berkeley are similar to that of an indoor pool,
which is exactly what the Bruins will find at Long Beach’s Belmont
Plaza Pool  site of the MPSF and NCAA championships. The only
difference is the fact that crowds at Belmont tend to be four times
as large, and the echoes are deafening.
"(Cal) was the first big crowd we’ve played in front of," UCLA
assistant coach Matt Emerzian said. "It’s loud, it’s hard to hear
each other out in the pool. You really have to have your head on a
swivel and be looking around.
"But it was a good experience leading up to the NCAA tournament,
which will be played at an indoor pool. It’s three times harder to
hear there (in Belmont) than it was here."
"(The noise) is not necessarily a bad thing," Swanson said. It
gets you pumped up whether the fans are rooting for you or
not."
* * *
The variable in every match over the last couple of weeks has
been Swanson’s nagging groin injury. He pulled the muscle in the
first week of practice, and after sitting out for a week, reinjured
it in the Sept. 24 game against USC.
The injury has been especially debilitating for Swanson because,
as goalkeeper, he uses his legs constantly in order to rise out of
the wpened the first time."ater to block shots.
"(The groin) is pretty much the worst place for me to be
injured," Swanson said. "It’s kept me from conditioning."
For the first time since the USC game, Swanson was able to train
consistently this week in preparation for the Santa Barbara match,
and although the injury is still sore, he should have his endurance
back by Friday.
"I’ve been training as hard as I can without injuring myself,"
Swanson said.