Monday, April 15, 1996, 1996
By Mark J. Dittmer
Daily Bruin Contributor
The theme of the UCLA women’s water polo season to this point
has been their invincibility. The Bruins seemed incapable of
losing.
That theme only continued over the weekend in Berkeley, where
they came away with four wins, and the first-ever Mountain Pacific
Sports Federation championship trophy.
The road to the trophy was not an easy one for the Bruins
(20-0). The Bruins’ schedule for the weekend included an 11-3 win
over Santa Barbara, a 6-1 win over Stanford, a 6-3 victory over Cal
in the semifinals, and a 6-5 win against San Diego State in the
championship.
At the same time as UCLA got their 20th win and earned the
championship trophy, five Bruins were named to the All-MPSF
Southern Division teams.
Coralie Simmons was named co-field player of the year along with
San Diego State star Heather Moody. Nicholle Payne was named the
division’s goalie of the year. Catherine von Schwarz and Jennifer
McFerrin were also named to the first team.
Amanda Gall earned the Southern Division’s second-team honors.
Each team can only nominate five players to these teams, and all
five of the Bruins nominated earned honors. But for a team as good
as UCLA’s, there are bound to be players who don’t receive their
due recognition.
"Unfortunately, much of the recognition goes to the people that
are scoring goals," said assistant coach Leslie Storey. "And
whoever is not scoring goals is usually doing really well on
defense."
As things turned out, these defenders, deprived of recognition,
shined throughout the tournament, especially toward the end.
Facing Cal’s big 2-meter threat, Kalia Young, UCLA defense was
up to the test, thanks to a double-team led by Jennifer McFerrin,
Mandy McAloon and Katie Tenenbaum. And against San Diego State, who
UCLA coach Guy Baker calls "probably the best offensive team out
there," the Bruins clamped down.
"Our defense did an excellent job against them to shut them
down," Baker said.
And those that are playing the defense can score goals. It’s
just hard to do both at the same time, and most of the Bruins have
carved out a specialty on either the offensive or defensive
end.
"If you’re a 2-meter defender, you’re expending all of your
energy defensively, and it’s hard to go down and play great on the
offensive end,"Storey said. "On the same token, if someone is
playing great offense, it’s hard to go back down and play great
defense."
Most impressively, the whole team was involved in UCLA’s perfect
season thus far.
"We all shined as a team, as a result of different players
shining at different times," said sophomore starter Stephanie
Natcher.
Natcher herself exemplified the importance of the little
things.
"She does a lot of things for us that don’t show up in the
statistics, things that are essential for our success," Baker said.
"She’s definitely a valuable player for us."