Redshirt senior Thalia Munro has been blessed with being a part
of three championship teams during her illustrious career at UCLA.
She is currently sixth among UCLA’s all-time leaders for
goals scored, with 121. The utility is one of the most feared
defenders ““ as well as one of the most decorated players
““ in UCLA water polo history. She was also a member of the
bronze-medal 2004 U.S. Olympic team. But it’s been a trying
and drawn-out career for the 24-year-old Munro, who redshirted for
two seasons to train with the U.S. National Team. She came back to
a Bruin team filled with unrecognizable faces, but was able to lead
UCLA to an undefeated 2005 championship season. But now, in her
final season, Munro is enjoying as much as she can before
it’s all over. “My college career didn’t go in a
blink of an eye, so for it to be my last home game, it’s
sad,” Munro said. “I love the seniors that I’m
graduating with and so it’s a good feeling. I’m
enjoying it.”
ROWE BACK ON HER BOAT: After missing nearly
half of this season with a nagging back injury, sophomore center
forward Brittany Rowe came up huge against Stanford, scoring two
goals in the win. Rowe drew first blood in the first overtime,
poking the ball into the goal after initially losing a handle on it
after a pass from Munro. “That was her best game since coming
back. No question about it,” UCLA coach Adam Krikorian said.
“If you had to name one thing, she might be the difference in
that game.”
UNDEFEATED VS. UNDEFEATED: Much talk is
circling about whether this year’s undefeated USC
women’s water polo team is better than last year’s
undefeated Bruin team, which went on to win the national
championship. According to Hawai’i coach Michel Roy, USC is
the better team. “They are more controlled and they play a
better team game,” Roy said. “(USC) should win, but
like I said last year, you never know who’s going to show
up.”
SENIOR DAY: Along with Munro, driver Katherine
Belden, utility Kristina Kunkel, center defender Lauren Heineck and
team manager and former player Rosie Carreras all celebrated their
last home game as Bruins.