The UCLA men’s water polo team is stuck with a serious
case of deja vu.
In what was essentially a replay of the SoCal tournament, except
in some minor particulars, the top-ranked Bruins finished fourth in
the NorCal tournament Sunday, with consecutive losses to host
California and No. 4 Stanford.
The Bruins, who were coming off a weekend in which they scored a
huge win against then-No. 1 Cal, beat both UC Santa Barbara and
Pepperdine on Saturday before being upended 7-6 by the No. 3 Bears
and 6-5 by the Cardinal.
The loss was the first for the Bruins since the SoCal
tournament, where they finished the tournament with consecutive
losses to Stanford and Cal. The Bruins are now 1-4 this season
against the nation’s top four teams.
“I don’t really care if we lose the games as long as
we’re competing and playing in the now,” UCLA coach
Adam Krikorian said. “It’s just the way we’ve
been losing these games. Every one of these, I feel we should have
won.”
In a worrisome trend, the Bruins again let late leads slip
against their opponents. In all four of their losses this year, the
Bruins have held the lead in the second half, only to prove unable
to win.
The relative youth of the team might be a factor in the
Bruins’ troubles.
“Our youth might have something to do with it,”
Krikorian said. “But at this program, we expect everyone to
play with toughness and maturity.”
Senior David Pietsch and junior Christian Pulido were the
leading scorers in the loss to Cal, each with two goals. Junior
Grant Zider broke his eardrum during the game, but refused to be
taken out.
“He provided a big boost for us this weekend,”
Krikorian said.
Goalie junior Will Didinger recorded 11 saves against Cal, but
his efforts were not enough to stem the late Bears tide.
“He played consistently pretty good this weekend,”
Krikorian said. “There were moments when he played great, and
moments where he let some in that he might have saved.”
USC, which UCLA has yet to play this season, finished first in
the tournament, making it the victor in both tournaments this
year.
The Bruins, in contrast to their crosstown neighbors, finished
in essentially last place in both of the main tournaments this
year, considering Cal, Stanford, USC and UCLA are each
other’s only real competition. In each of the two
tournaments, those teams have finished in the top four.
UCLA has its work cut out for it if it is to be competitive at
the end of the year for the MPSF championship, and, later, the NCAA
championship.
Though they played well enough to win early on in each of their
games, the Bruins ultimately could not finish against quality
opponents.
“We’re having a hard time putting together a full 28
minutes,” Krikorian said. “It’s just a lack of
concentration and a lack of toughness.”
In the wins Saturday against UC Santa Barbara and Pepperdine,
Pietsch was the leading scorer, totaling four goals over the two
games and leading the Bruins to a 8-7 win over the Waves.