Despite a solid offensive performance, the UCLA men’s
water polo team fell to the UCSD Tritons in heartbreaking fashion,
13-12, on Friday night. The nearly 2,000 screaming fans in
attendance proved to be too much for the Bruins to handle, as the
defense had one of its poorest showings on the year.
“We didn’t play good enough defense to win,”
coach Adam Krikorian said. “We were nowhere to be found
defensively, and they exploited us. You can’t give up 13
goals.”
Up until the game in San Diego, senior goalkeeper Will Didinger
boasted a 4.80 goals against average. The 13 goals scored against
Didinger will blemish the otherwise impressive statistic.
“Will didn’t play very well, and I think he’ll
be the first to admit to that,” Krikorian said. “But he
didn’t get much help, either.”
A key factor in the Bruins’ loss was the environment at
the Canyonview West Pool in La Jolla. There were 1,740 fans with
more squeezing their way in as the noise level continued to
escalate throughout the entire match.
“There were so many fans there, it was crazy,”
senior Michael March said. “When Adam was trying to talk to
us, we couldn’t hear him. We couldn’t even hear our own
coach, and Will (Didinger) was getting yelled at the entire
time.”
“Their crowd was phenomenal,” Krikorian said.
“It’s one thing having 1,800 people, and its another
thing having 1,800 people screaming the entire time. It was the
second-loudest water polo crowd I have ever seen, and the
first-loudest was when we played Stanford at Stanford in the
championship game of 2004. This crowd rivaled that, and
that’s huge.”
Despite the volume of the fans and the overflowing pool deck,
the Bruin offense stayed consistent throughout the game, as both
teams battled to hold on to a lead.
Junior Marco Santos scored a season-high three goals with March,
Logan Powell, Matthew Jacobs and Grant Zider all scoring two
apiece.
UCLA was up 8-6 at the half but let the Tritons score three
unanswered goals in the fourth, handing them the momentum to take
them through the game.
The teams were tied 12-12 in the final minute, until junior
Adnan Jerkovic scored with 28 seconds remaining to give UC San
Diego the lead.
Once Santos’ shot missed the target on the final Bruin
possession, the Tritons claimed victory over the Bruins for the
first time in history.
In spite of the solid offensive contributions, no team member
left San Diego satisfied.
“I am pissed (about the loss),” March said. “I
am sure everyone is pissed. I am definitely going to step up my
game, and I am sure everyone (else) will (do the same).”
With a loss as disappointing as the one suffered on Friday night
and a schedule riddled with road games, the team needs to acclimate
itself to the hostile away-game crowds more effectively.
“We are going to have to learn from this, or we are going
to have a really tough time on the road,” Krikorian said.
ALUMNI MATCH: Though the Bruins were hardly in
the mood to play after the disheartening loss Friday night, the
annual alumni game took place as a friendly ““ yet markedly
physical ““ meeting between former and current Bruins.
“It’s difficult to come out after a loss like that,
but at the same time it does kind of lighten the atmosphere,”
March said.
“It’s always fun to see all these guys and the refs
screwing us on all the calls,” he said.
Not entirely unexpectedly, the current UCLA squad won the
lighthearted competition, 13-8.