LA JOLLA “”mdash; Down 2-0 heading into the third quarter,
matched up against its arch-nemesis, UCLA finally fought its way
out of the shadow of the once-insurmountable Stanford tree.
By capturing the 2003 NCAA women’s water polo
championship, head coach Adam Krikorian finally put to rest all
doubt that his Bruins can’t come out on top.
But it wasn’t until the third quarter that UCLA was able
to turn it around. The Bruins extended their defense to keep
Stanford at mid-pool, and Captain Robin Beauregard proved to be the
catalyst for the Bruins as she collected two steals in the
quarter.
The increased defensive intensity led directly to the Bruins
finally getting on the scoreboard.
With 6:08 left in the quarter, Stanford committed an offensive
foul and the Bruins went the other way. Freshman Kelly Rulon was
the recipient of a pass from senior Jessica Lopez, and she gave
UCLA its first goal scoring off the left side of the goal post,
making the score 2-1.
“Kelly really never shows much emotion, but after she
scored she pumped her fist in the air and that really sparked
us,” Krikorian said. “We were able to feed off her
energy the rest of the way.”
These two players would later connect with 52.3 seconds left in
the quarter. Rulon rifled a pass from the right side of the pool to
a streaking Lopez, who scored off a skip shot that just skimmed
past Stanford goalie Jackie Frank, knotting the score at 2-2, and
giving Bruins the momentum they would need to eventually win going
into the fourth quarter.
Stanford only got close to scoring once in the third, but senior
goalie Jamie Hipp got a hand on Stanford’s Hannah
Luber’s two meter backhand shot.
Hipp’s brilliance coupled with the offensive firepower
provided by Rulon and Lopez were enough to get UCLA back into the
game.
“I’ve grown so much since the beginning of the
year,” Rulon said. “We were down going into the third
and I just went in wanting to contribute to the team.”
Fortunately for the Bruins, she did just that.