Monday, April 1, 1996
By Mark J. Dittmer
Daily Bruin Contributor
Every team goes through a slump. Players are rusty, they get
tired and every break starts to go the wrong way.
The UCLA women’s water polo team, however, has proved capable of
going through such a stretch without a scratch. Mired in a slump of
sorts in their last two games, the Bruins still pulled out
victories  10-1 over USC last Friday and 5-4 over San Diego
State on Saturday.
Saturday’s win was the Bruins’ closest of the year. It was also
the first game in which UCLA (15-0 overall, 5-0 in the Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation) fell behind all year. The Bruins were
behind for much of the first half, 1-0 and later 2-1.
The score was knotted at four for much of the fourth quarter,
until Coralie Simmons broke the tie with 3:50 left. Simmons’ goal
was her fourth of the game, and it gave UCLA a slim lead to
protect.
Most of that protection was given by goalie Nicolle Payne. Payne
made six of her eight saves in the fourth quarter. One of those
came with four seconds left, stopping what would have been a
dramatic game-tying shot.
"Nicolle is very consistent," UCLA assistant coach Leslie Storey
said. "She not only blocks a lot of shots, she also comes up big at
the big moments. She’s always been a clutch player for us."
The Bruins’ close win over a tough San Diego State team was a
good win on the surface. The Aztecs were playing at full strength
for the first time and were motivated to avenge two earlier defeats
at the hands of the Bruins.
Yet despite coming away with a victory, Bruin head coach Guy
Baker could be happier.
"We’re going through a little bit of a lull," he said. "We were
a little sluggish all weekend. I think we’ll be fine, but we’re
definitely struggling."
The 5-4 win on Saturday paled in comparison to UCLA’s 7-2
walloping of the Aztecs in San Diego two weeks ago. The Bruins had
backed into that March 17 contest, looking flat the day before in a
10-5 win over UCSD, but they came out on fire against the
Aztecs.
Baker was pleased with his troops after the thrashing of San
Diego State.
"That was the best team defense we played all year," Baker said
after that match. "We controlled the tempo and we controlled the
whole game."
The Bruins were able to put such a game together despite finals
lurking around the corner. With that win, UCLA was 13-0, and would
have two weeks off after the cancellation of the Michigan
tournament, originally scheduled for March 22-24.
The Bruins improvement to 15-0 over their last two games can be
largely attributed to a good effort from Jennifer McFerrin, who
scored three goals over the weekend and drew raves from the
coaches.
"She was all over the place this weekend. She made a lot happen
for us," Baker said.
Freshmen Coralie Simmons and Catharine von Schwarz did most of
the rest of the weekend’s scoring. Simmons added two goals on
Friday against USC to her four on Saturday, while von Schwarz
netted three goals on Friday.
With their wins, UCLA clinched first place in the Southern
Division of the MPSF. This will pay off with a No. 1 seed in the
MPSF tournament April 13-14.
PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin
Coralie Simmons (No. 13) scored the tiebreaking goal that gave
the Bruins a desperate victory over San Diego State.
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