Within just one day last weekend, the UCLA men’s water
polo team doubled its number of losses in the season.
They finished with disappointing losses to California and
Stanford, and now must prepare for the remainder of the season in
order to defend their national title.
That preparation begins when the Bruins play No. 6 UC San Diego
and No. 14 UC Santa Barbara this weekend, their first two games at
home since the losses.
Today’s game against UCSD will be one of the toughest
games of the season, especially considering they are not among the
nation’s top four teams.
“They have almost the best team that they’ve ever
had,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “They always have a
chance to beat any of the top four. They’ve had a lot of
one-point losses, and basically blew a game against Stanford where
they had the lead late.”
The No. 4 Bruins have yet to play San Diego this year, but they
beat this weekend’s other opponent, the Gauchos, 8-3 last
weekend on the first day of the NorCal tournament.
“They’re rebuilding,” Krikorian said.
“They are playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores.
They’re going to come in and compete, but they just
don’t have the horses this year.”
Krikorian is looking for the team’s counterattack to
improve. Last weekend, he said there were too many opportunities
missed because of spacing issues where the players would be too
clumped together on offense. This weekend, he is looking for much
more spreading on offense.
“We had a lot of problems with our offense,”
Krikorian said. “We definitely need to improve on
that.”
What should benefit the Bruins is their opponents’ styles
of play.
“We match-up well against them,” said junior Logan
Powell. “Both teams don’t have a huge set man who can
dominate. Their offenses are based on movement, which we have been
working on.”
San Diego’s aggressive attack will force the UCLA defense
to constantly be on their guard. Unlike the methodical and
conservative attacks of most teams the Bruins play, San Diego tends
to open up its offense.
“We can’t afford to have any lack of
concentration,” Krikorian said. “They are always in
attack mode, and are always looking to score. There can be no
relaxation against this team, and we have to be focused.”
For Krikorian, this weekend is important precisely because of
the way the NorCal tournament ended. The Bruins have not shown they
can beat the top tier of teams in the MPSF, and they need to show
that they can beat UCSD to stay in the top four.
“We haven’t proven we can beat Cal or
Stanford,” Krikorian said. “We have beaten Pepperdine
and Irvine, and we need to continue to beat the teams we are
supposed to beat.”
Christian Pulido, who injured his shoulder in practice and may
not play over the weekend, feels that the Bruins’ ultimate
goal is not just to win.
“It’s important that we play well, and play well for
four quarters,” said Pulido. “We need to play (in the)
present, instead of thinking about later, or earlier. In the most
superficial phrasing, we need to not worry about winning, and just
worry about playing well.”