IRVINE “”mdash; The men’s water polo team’s season
came to an end Sunday, following an up-and-down final weekend at
the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s end-of-the-year
tournament.
The high points were obvious. The third-ranked Bruins opened the
weekend with a dominating 17-1 rout over the fifth-seeded Pacific
Tigers on Friday, then closed out their season on Sunday with a 9-8
come-from-behind overtime victory over Stanford, earning UCLA third
place in the tournament.
But sandwiched between those victories was heartbreak. On
Saturday, the Bruins fell to the second-ranked California Golden
Bears 8-5, in a hard-fought semifinal matchup. The loss ended
UCLA’s chances of advancing to next week’s NCAA Final
Four, and left the Bruins with little to play for Sunday.
Slow starts had plagued the Bruins all season, and somewhat
fittingly they struggled early against the Cardinal. UCLA trailed
for most of the game, and didn’t take the lead for good until
the second period of overtime. On a power play with 1:22 remaining
before sudden death, true freshman Kevin Kuga threaded an inside
pass to freshman Scott Davidson for the winning goal.
“We kind of woke up at halftime,” UCLA coach Adam
Krikorian said after the game. “I was proud of the way the
guys fought back in the second half and competed. You have to
always compete, and that was what disappointed me (in the first
half).”
Still, Sunday’s victory was a bittersweet one. It marked
not only the end of the Bruins’ season, but also the careers
of seven UCLA seniors.
“For the past five years I’ve been thinking about
this last day, and finally today’s that day,” senior
Michael March said after the game. “It hasn’t hit me
yet, but it’ll hit me in probably about a week. Water
polo’s done. I mean, I’ve been playing water polo for
the last twelve years; that’s half my life. It’s kind
of a crazy thing.”
To blame for the premature end of the Bruin’s season was a
disastrous third quarter on Saturday against Cal. Unlike in many of
their other defeats, the Bruins had led early and held a 4-3 lead
at halftime. But the Bears scored four unanswered goals in the
third to take a 7-4 lead that proved too large for the Bruins to
overcome. Although disappointed, the team did its best to remain
positive.
“It’s tough,” Krikorian said. “You set
your sights on a goal, and you obviously come up short, but you
still have to play (the next) game. You’re kind of teaching
about life. You’re not always going to be playing for the
championship in life; things aren’t always going to go your
way. You have to still compete and fight.”
March echoed similar sentiments.
“Yesterday, until the last whistle blew, I still honestly
believed that we were going to do it,” March said.
Now, with the season over, the Bruins will look to move forward
as best they can. For the seniors, that means moving on to life
after water polo.
“I’m happy and sad I guess, if you want to put it
simply,” said March. “It’s a lot more complex
than that. It’s just a combination of emotions. I’m not
happy that we didn’t win, but you can’t win them all.
… But it’s time to move on, I guess.”