As defending national champions, the UCLA women’s water
polo team will travel to Irvine for this weekend’s Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation conference tournament in a different
position than in 2005. But an overtime win over No. 3 Stanford has
the No. 2 Bruins in stronger position to make a run at back-to-back
national titles. It will all start now, with Stanford and No. 1 USC
playing in the MPSF field this weekend.
UCLA (24-3, 11-1 MPSF) has been granted a bye in the tournament
and will face the winner of the No. 7 Arizona State-No. 11 Long
Beach State game at UC Irvine’s Anteater Aquatics Center on
Friday afternoon. A win would likely pit the Bruins against the
Cardinal in the semifinals in a rematch of the 9-8 overtime contest
on April 15.
“The bye is certainly an advantage for us on
Friday,” UCLA coach Adam Krikorian said. “But because
the top three teams are all in the same boat, in the end it
won’t likely play a major role.”
Although UCLA defeated the Cardinal in their most recent
meeting, the win at the tournament on Saturday will not come
easily.
“I certainly think we can beat them, but they also can
just as easily beat us,” Krikorian said. “In some ways,
playing Stanford is like looking at yourself in a mirror. That
makes it maybe not as difficult to prepare for, but it will be
difficult to win. How each team does on power plays will make the
difference.”
If the Bruins can upend the Cardinal with their superior power
playing, they will face top-ranked USC, who maintains a 24 game
winning streak and has upset UCLA twice this season.
“If we face USC in the tournament, we will have two really
difficult games,” junior driver Kelly Rulon said. “We
will have to continually push with 100 percent effort and not have
any brain farts. It will be a huge character test for us as a
team.”
Regardless of their play this weekend, the UCLA women’s
water polo team is headed for the national championship tournament
in Davis, and the Bruins’ finish at the MPSF Tournament
merely affects their seeding there.
“In terms of our position at NCAAs, our play at the MPSF
Tournament really doesn’t matter a whole lot. We are either
seeded second or third,” Krikorian said. “This weekend
is more about us playing well ““ plain and simple ““ and
executing some of the important things at NCAAs.”
Because of the Bruins’ record, they can rest assured that
they will be competing at the NCAA Tournament over Mother’s
Day weekend. Despite the comfort of knowing they are not facing a
do-or-die situation, it certainly will not hurt to boost confidence
levels with a win this weekend if UCLA wants a shot at defending
its 2005 national title.
“It’s nice knowing we will be at the NCAA
Tournament, and that relieves the team of a little pressure,”
Rulon said.
“But we want to win, and we are playing to win.”