As the UCLA men’s water polo team gears up for its game
against UC San Diego this Friday, the players will be looking to
continue two different trends.
The first is the team’s recent youth movement. In
Saturday’s 10-8 win over Stanford at the Rose Bowl Aquatics
Center, Krsto Sbutega, Scott Davidson and Kevin Kuga each scored
two goals. All three are in either their first or second years
seeing playing time with the team. Sbutega is a redshirt sophomore,
Davidson a redshirt freshman and Kuga a true freshman.
Coach Adam Krikorian, however, isn’t surprised by the
success of his young players.
“The main thing is just getting the younger guys
experience,” he said. “By this point in the season
they’re mostly over the learning stage, over that freshman
nervousness stage. I’ve given a lot of them the green light
to play aggressively and attack, and I think they’re getting
a lot more confidence as the season goes on.”
That might be the most true for Kuga. Coming directly off of his
senior year at Dos Pueblos High School in the Santa Barbara area,
he’s overcome some early misgivings to become a productive
player for the Bruins in his first year.
Kuga scored two goals apiece in the Bruins’ last two
games, and earlier in the season tallied three against UC Davis in
a 14-4 win at the NorCal tournament.
“When I first came in I was definitely nervous, worried
about how I’d perform, and about making [not redshirting]
this season worthwhile,” Kuga said. “But once I got in
and practiced with the team, played with the team, I got past that.
Ever since that it’s been awesome.”
Krikorian, for his part, has done his best to put his younger
players in a position to contribute to the team’s success
right away.
“You always have to coach a little more with a younger
team, be a little more hands on, telling them what to do,” he
said. “The older guys know more what to do, how I want things
done. The biggest thing I do is just giving the young guys the
confidence to go out and play.”
And when the Bruins go out and play against UC San Diego on
Friday, they’ll try to continue a trend much longer in the
making.
In the history of the two water polo programs, UCLA has never
lost a game to UC San Diego. Including its most recent game, last
year’s 6-5 home win, UCLA is a perfect 43-0 against the
Tritons.
Winning streak aside, the Bruins aren’t looking past the
San Diego game. Kuga, in fact, was even unaware of the record.
“I didn’t actually know that, but I guess
that’s just added pressure to win,” Kuga said.
“We know we’re playing in their home pool, and last
game they drew 1,500 people to play Loyola, so we’re thinking
we might see 2,000 fans when we play. That’s just a great
playing environment. When you go in there it’s pretty easy to
get yourself fired up to play.”