Familiar faces and a seemingly noticeable one will be missing
from the U.S. Women’s National Team this Saturday when the
Bruins face Team USA at Los Alamitos.
In late November, UCLA sophomore Amber Stachowski was involved
in a car accident. While driving on the 405 Freeway to UCLA with
Olympic teammates Maureen Flanagan and Thalia Munro, an abrupt stop
was made after the vehicle ahead of them braked.
Stachowski, who was sleeping at the time, hit her head on the
dashboard and suffered a concussion.
Both Flanagan and Munro came out of the wreck with only minor
injuries, but Stachowski is still recovering.
After a few months on the sideline, doctors have cleared
Stachowski to train.
For the past month, Stachowski has only been able to participate
in light workouts.
“She’s doing well,” coach Adam Krikorian said.
“It’s obviously frustrating spending the first 1.5
years preparing for the Olympics and now she has to be on the
sidelines. But she’s been patient, and she’s excited
about getting the chance to start playing again.”
For the No. 3 Bruins (20-4, 8-2 MPSF), defeating the national
team will be a daunting task, but it has been done before.
Last year’s team managed to upset Team USA 3-2, but the
makeup of this year’s squad is far less experienced than that
of last year’s.
“There’s definitely going to be some hostility since
we beat them last year,” sophomore Kristina Kunkel said.
Six of Team USA’s 14 members of are former or current UCLA
players.
Stachowski, Flanagan, Nicolle Payne and Robin Beauregard were
former UCLA players. Munro, Natalie Golda and Kelly Rulon are
current players on UCLA’s squad, but are redshirting this
year.
“It will be kind of weird playing the Bruins,”
Beauregard said. “But, having played in the alumni game,
maybe not as much. I think this game will be a little more
serious.”
Just one year later, Krikorian finds himself not only matching
wits with former UCLA water polo coach Guy Baker, but also
strategizing against many of his former players.
“I’d rather have it the other way around,”
Adam Krikorian said. “(They) joined the dark side, so to
speak.”
For freshman driver Molly Cahill, the outcome of the match
isn’t as important as what they will gain from playing Team
USA.
“Even if we win or lose, it’ll be good for us to see
how we come off the loss to Stanford,” Cahill said.
“We’re going to have to compete for the full 28
minutes, no matter what the score, and see if we can get back on
the right track.”