In its first home game of the season, the UCLA women’s
water polo team looked to feed off the energy of its home crowd
Friday against crosstown rival USC.
Instead, they were greeted with a sea of red and gold ““ a
crowd of people yelling their heads off ““ from what could
only seem like a clip from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
USC coach Jovan Vavic seemed like the leader of the group as
throughout the game, his incessant shrieking and grunting to his
players had even the water rippling.
It was too much to overcome.
Even though No. 2 UCLA (4-2, 2-1 MPSF) had previously defeated
No. 3 USC (7-1) at the Stanford Invitational 8-4, the Women of Troy
proved the better team, winning 8-6.
Despite the hostile crowd and the cries of Vavic, the Bruins
jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter with goals by
Robin Beauregard, who finished with two goals on the day, and Kelly
Rulon.
But the Bruins struggled on both ends of the ball down the
stretch and found themselves in a hole 7-4 at the end of the
third.
“We were just watching the ball and not reacting “¦
there was no defense on our part,” UCLA goalie Jaime Hipp
said.
UCLA head coach Adam Krikorian tried to spark his team by
adamantly arguing a call at the end of the third, but the only
response he received for his efforts was a yellow card.
“I didn’t agree with the calls that the officials
made, but I’m not going to put it on the refs because we
still had plenty of opportunities to execute,” Krikorian
said.
Down by three heading into the fourth, senior Jessica Lopez
seized the opportunity and came out firing, as she netted one for
the Bruins early on in the opening minutes of the game. But once
again, the Women of Troy responded as Moriah Van Norman put any
doubt of a Bruin comeback to rest when she matched Lopez’s
goal 20 seconds later.
USC’s superb defense held the Bruins to only one goal in
the remaining 5:38 to seal the upset victory.
“It always sucks to lose against USC. They took advantage
of our mistakes because we didn’t keep up our defense,”
junior Natalie Golda said, “but USC played a good
game.”
A day after they gave up a season-high eight goals, the Bruins
took out their frustrations on No. 9 Hawaii, a team they faced and
beat 7-3 during the Stanford Invitational.
The atmosphere was somewhat similar to that of the USC game, as
Hawaii coach Michael Roy tried Vavic’s recipe of constant
yelling, but the Bruins wisely adjusted and won 12-5.
UCLA took an early 2-1 lead in the first, but in the second,
with the help of four players scoring one goal apiece, they
exploded to a 6-2 lead by the end of the first half.
Hawaii had no answers at either end of the pool as UCLA
dominated the match.
“We were more aggressive on the offensive end, but on the
defensive end, we still are not communicating as clearly as we
could,” Krikorian said. “Overall, we’re happy
with the win and the way we played.”
After facing off with two very vocal coaches over the weekend,
Krikorian has no plans to emulate their demonstrative grunts.
“My philosophy is to let my girls play,” he said.
“In my opinion, yelling out to players during the game takes
away from the girls’ learning experience because they
won’t be able to think on their own.”