Monday, 4/14/97
UCLA staves off Bears’ championship run
Bruins warm up for big game by defeating UCSB, SDSU
By Devin Reza
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s water polo team defeated the California Golden
Bears (23-6) by a score of 8-6 in Santa Barbara on Sunday afternoon
to repeat as Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champions.
Serela Mansur and Catharine von Schwarz each scored goals in the
fourth quarter to give the defending national champion Bruins (22-1
)the win.
Coralie Simmons scored three goals for UCLA and was named MPSF
Southern Division Player of the Year for the second consecutive
season.
The Bruins wasted little time, scoring four goals in the first
quarter of the Sunday game. Cal scored three times in both the
first and third quarter, but were shut out in the second and fourth
quarters.
The Bruins and Golden Bears were tied 6-6 going into the final
quarter, but the goals by Mansur and von Schwarz, combined with
solid defense, secured the Bruins’ victory.
Katie Tenenbaum, who had two goals in the game, was pleased with
the team’s efforts.
"We played really well as a team this weekend," Tenenbaum
said.
"These were good wins," she added, referring to UCLA’s four
victories.
The Bruins defeated UC Santa Barbara on Friday, and on Saturday
they beat San Diego State and blew out Cal.
"We couldn’t think about Saturday’s win over Cal because we knew
it wouldn’t be like that again," Tenenbaum said.
Goalie Nicolle Payne had 10 saves in the championship match for
UCLA and Amanda Gall added a goal.
Alisa von Hartitzsch scored three goals for Cal and was named
MPSF Northern Player of the Year.
Cal took the rest of the Northern Division awards, with Evi
Schueller being named Goalie of the Year and Maureen O’Toole taking
Coach of the Year honors.
* * *
In the consolation game, SDSU defeated Stanford (18-6) 8-7 in
double overtime. Larisa Baltgalvis scored the winning goal to give
the Aztecs (11-9) the third place victory.
UCLA now moves on to Western Regional action and begins play on
April 25 in Berkeley.
"We’re going to be practicing hard for regionals," said
Tenenbaum. "We’ll be in good shape."