Thursday, March 6, 1997
W. WATER POLO:
Team confronts tough schedule with injury to star goalieBy Timmy
Yun
Daily Bruin Contributor
Only a couple games into the season, the UCLA women’s water polo
team finds itself in the middle of a crucial stretch.
The team will play 10 games in 11 days. In addition, the team
has to deal with the stress of upcoming finals and an injury to
star goalie Nicolle Payne which will surely test the Bruins’
character and resilience.
Payne, who was diagnosed with a bulging disk and a stress
fracture in her lower spinal column, will miss the next few
games.
She had experienced some pain in her back in last weekend’s
victory over UC Santa Barbara. Postgame X-rays and a MRI revealed
the seriousness of her back injuries. Later in the week, she lost
feeling in her toes and had difficulty moving her legs. The
injuries may have hurt her game in the early season.
"She has been in a little bit of a slump," head coach Guy Baker
said. "She just didn’t look quite herself during the season. It may
have been something that has been slowly affecting her."
Preliminary test results indicate that she will be able to play
later in the season. The specific injury is nothing new to the
Bruins. Two-meter player Catherine Von Schwarz suffered the same
type of injury but has come back strong.
Payne has been cleared by the trainers to travel with the team
and should provide invaluable moral support from the sidelines.
"She is a true captain," Baker said.
Freshman Erin Golaboski will start as goalie, moving over from
her defensive field position. Because of her experience as a
back-up for the national team, Baker is confident that she will
fill in nicely.
The transition took Golaboski by surprise, and she has spent the
last week practicing her timing and movement. She has not had any
practice at the goalie position for the past seven months and looks
to shake some of the cobwebs.
However, she will be thrust into the spotlight immediately as
the Bruins play Cal and begin the stretch of games. Cal beat the
Bruins earlier in the season.
"The team has been very supportive and they have really been
there for me," Golaboski said.
Golaboski’s switch has caused a ripple-down effect upon the rest
of the team.
"Erin was our main sub coming off of the bench and she was doing
some good things in the pool," Baker said. "It’s like a double
loss, losing both Payne and our top reserve. We have to have some
bench players step up."
Molly Barnes is expected to be the top reserve in Golaboski’s
absence and should be able to relieve the starters
periodically.
Despite all of these distractions, however, the Bruins will
march on. Today the team will open a tough series of games with a
rematch against Cal.
Cal gave the Bruins their only setback of the season with a 4-3
victory at the UC San Diego Tournament.
After the matchup against the Golden Bears, UCLA will move on to
Stanford, where it will play the Cardinal in a Mountain Pacific
Sports Federation game.
Saturday will mark the beginning of the Stanford Tournament,
with the Bruins battling Pacific and the Cal B-team in the opening
rounds. The tournament championship game will be played on
Sunday.
With all things considered, Baker remains confident that the
team will rise up to meet the new challenges that face it.
"From a team-growth standpoint, I think that everything that has
happened this week can be very positive in the long run," Baker
said.
UCLA Sports Info
Nicolle Payne
"Everything that has happened this week can be very positive in
the long run."
Guy Baker
Women’s Water Polo Coach