Monday, October 14, 1996
WATER POLO:
UCLA’s offense continues to show strength exhibited throughout
seasonBy Rick Banks and Mark Dittmer
Daily Bruin Contributors
An undefeated season just wasn’t in the cards for UCLA.
The Bruins’ water polo team shot into the Northern California
tournament with 10 wins under their belt, and already having beaten
the nation’s top teams at the Southern California tournament one
month before. They won the first three games of the tournament but
ran into a brick wall in crosstown rival USC. By the end of the
day, the Bruins were 13-1.
It almost seemed that luck just wasn’t in it for the Bruins.
After beating Stanford on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 13, the
Bruins had 13 wins. The UCLA defense then proceeded to watch the
Trojans run up 13 points on them as their hopes of remaining
undefeated were washed away.
Haven’t we been here before? One month ago, almost to the day,
the UCLA men’s water polo team defeated USC 8-7 in overtime to
claim the SoCal tournament. On Sunday, the rematch of that game was
realized in the NorCal tournament in Stockton.
The No. 2 Trojans, defending champs of the tournament, looked to
avenge their only loss this season by knocking off the undefeated
and No. 1 ranked Bruins.
The Trojans came out firing, taking a 5-1 lead in the first
quarter. The Trojans then similarly dominated the second quarter,
outscoring the Bruins 3-0 and taking an 8-1 halftime advantage.
Simun Cimerman led the Trojans with two goals in that quarter
and four in the match. Cimerman finished the tournament with 10
goals to his credit.
The Bruins only started to come alive in the fourth quarter, but
they started that quarter looking at a 10-3 deficit. They were able
to close to 13-8, but that would be as close as UCLA would get.
Meanwhile, fifth-ranked Stanford won the third-place game,
beating sixth-ranked Pacific 8-5. Stanford was sent to the
third-place game by losing to UCLA earlir in the day by a score of
9-6.
In that game the Bruins were led by driver Jim Toring, who
scored four goals. Corbin Graham finished with three, and Matt
Swanson saved eight shots.
Swanson’s day wasn’t so good against USC, as he allowed 13 goals
but could only save six shots.
In the championship game, the Bruins’ scoring was led by Brian
Bent, who scored three goals. But Toring was held scoreless, and
Graham was held to just one goal.
UCLA came up against tough competition on their way to the
championship. They easily disposed of unranked Occidental in their
first game on Saturday, 15-3. In the second game, they encountered
the Pepperdine Waves, and some trouble.
In the first game of the season, UCLA took out Pepperdine 15-6
in the SoCal tournament, but Saturday was a different story. It
took a goal by Steve Covec at the 33-second mark in the fourth
quarter to lift the Bruins over the Waves by a final of 9-8.
UCLA had a 7-5 lead going into the final period but Pepperdine
battled the game to an 8-8 tie. Covec’s goal kept UCLA from going
into overtime and allowed the team toadvance into the championship
round on Sunday.
In the first game Sunday, UCLA took on Stanford for the chance
to advance to the championship game. The No. 5 Cardinal fell to the
Bruins by a final of 9-6, setting up the rematch between UCLA and
USC.
The Trojans manhandled their way through the field en route to
the championship game. They easily defeated Santa Clara, 15-5, and
Air Force, 14-2, on Saturday. On Sunday, they put down the host
school, Pacific, by a final of 13-7 to set up the rematch with
UCLA.
The Bruins offense once again showed the balance that has
predominated this season. Thirteen players scored in the first two
games.
The tournament did have some other surprises besides the USC
upset of UCLA.
Both third-ranked Cal and fourth-ranked Irvine did not even make
the third-place match. Instead they battled in the fifth-place
match, with Cal prevailing, 8-7.
UCLA Sports Info
Steve Covec scored a crucial goal Sunday.