Just one year ago, the UCLA women’s water polo team
enjoyed the fruits of being NCAA champions.
However, defending its title will be no easy task, as this
year’s Bruins are lacking experience in every area.
Thus far this season the No. 3 Bruins (9-2, 3-0 MPSF) have
fallen to both No. 1 USC and No. 2 Stanford, but coach Adam
Krikorian is not worried about the season this early on. Instead,
he is concentrating more on improving one game at a time.
“We’re not experienced enough to be looking down the
road,” Krikorian said. “It’s important for us to
learn something and gain more experience after each
game.”
After falling to USC one month ago in the first-place game at
the Stanford Invitational, the Bruins will get a chance at
redemption against the undefeated Trojans (12-0, 4-0 MPSF) as the
team travels to McDonald’s Swim Stadium on Thursday.
“It’s going to be a very emotional and intense
game,” Krikorian said. “It will be important for us to
maintain our composure.”
The loss to USC remains etched in the Bruins’ minds,
especially after Krikorian was ejected after having a few choice
words with the officials. The fact they lost by an overwhelming
score of 12-4 also keeps the memory firmly implanted, but UCLA will
try to erase all memories of the past.
“We’re definitely motivated to beat ‘SC
because we got it handed to us pretty good last time,”
freshman co-captain Kristina Kunkel said.
A victory against the Trojans would be a colossal feat,
considering USC has decisively defeated its competition to this
point, winning both the Stanford Invitational and the UCSB
Tournament.
But with UCLA fresh off its successful weekend against No. 6 Cal
and Pacific, co-captain and MPSF Player of the Week Lauren Heineck
feels the Bruins are playing at their top form and remains
optimistic about their chances of upsetting USC.
“They’re probably underestimating us right now, so
we’re going to go out there and do our thing and pull out a
victory,” Heineck said.
For the Bruins, who have seven freshman on the team, going to
USC and experiencing the boisterous crowd will be eventful to say
the least.
Freshman goalie Emily Feher, who has been an integral part of
UCLA winning seven of its last eight matches, will experience her
first trip to USC.
“The crowd will be rooting on USC, but that’ll fire
us up even more,” Feher said. “We’re going to
show them that we can play at their level, too, and not to count us
out.”
The season is still early for UCLA, but a win against USC will
have considerable ramifications on the MPSF tournament with both
teams being undefeated in conference play.
“For such a young team, a win against USC can provide a
benchmark to let us know where we are in comparison to the top
teams in the country,” Krikorian said.