Another loss on the season for the men’s water polo team
would have been an eye-opener.
A loss to Loyola Marymount (11-12) Now that would be
devastating.
Thursday, the No. 4 UCLA (15-5, 4-1 MPSF) eked out an overtime
victory over the lowly Lions, 7-6, with last second heroics by
junior driver Ted Peck.
“I don’t know if we were playing with a sense of
complacency or a lack of concentration, but we haven’t been
starting games like we hope to,” coach Adam Krikorian said.
“We’re going to have to earn each victory and come out
with a sense of urgency each game, and luckily against LMU we were
able to pull out a victory.”
Peck was the Bruins’ savior with four seconds left in the
first period of overtime. After palming the ball on the right side
of the pool and delivering a series of pump fakes, Peck rocketed a
shot past LMU freshman goalie Ian Elliot for the game winner.
“We really came out flat, but we shouldn’t have been
in this position in the first place,” Peck said. “LMU
is a good team, but we are way better than them so we
should’ve put this team away in the first quarter.”
The Lions were up 6-3 with less than five minutes remaining in
the fourth quarter. It may have seemed like UCLA was backstroking
the entire game, but the Bruins somehow found the quality of play
of which they are capable.
“It was all about our defense and counter-attack,”
Peck said. “We made a lot of stops and down the stretch we
just flew by them. We passed well and we were able to hit the open
man for the easy score.”
Junior driver Josh Hewko notched a pair of goals in the final
quarter of regulation and sophomore center defender Michael March
netted the game-tying goal at 6-6, sending the game into
overtime.
UCLA junior goalie Joseph Axelrad finished with 11 saves, and
none was more important than the save he made in the final 25
seconds of the game. LMU senior utility Ryan Chapatte’s shot
nearly crossed the goal plane, but Axelrad made a heads-up play and
swiped away the potential game-winner.
“It was a wake-up call for us,” captain Peter Belden
said. “I’m really happy that we played like this
against LMU because if we played like this against UCI or Long
Beach we would’ve lost.”
UCLA will finish off their six-match road stint this weekend
against No. 8 UC Irvine (10-12, 2-3) on Saturday and then No. 7
Long Beach State (14-9, 3-2) on Sunday.