WOMEN’S WATER POLO Saturday and Sunday @
Stanford Invitational Palo Alto
The last time the women’s water polo team ventured up to
Northern California for a tournament, it came back with an NCAA
championship. Although this weekend does not hold the promise of a
third consecutive title for the Bruins, the season-opening
tournament in Palo Alto at Stanford could foretell what the next
couple of months might mean for the women of UCLA water polo.
Over two days, the UCLA women’s water polo team will have
its chance to prove that the strength, agility and heart that has
allowed the Bruins to dominate the sport in the past few years has
not left them. Set to play a full schedule of worthy competitors
including Stanford and USC, who handed the Bruins their only two
losses last season, coach Adam Krikorian and his players are not
intimidated.
“I’m really excited for this weekend. Obviously
every game is going to be hard. It’s a new season and new
teams, but hopefully we’ll do well,” senior forward
Kacy Kunkel said. “Everyone is really bonding and playing
well. It’s always hard to start off at the beginning of the
season, but once you get the first game jitters out, everything
should fall into place.”
Despite the uncertainty of the upcoming weekend and the Bruins
facing new and improved teams such as Cal, who finished last
year’s season fifth, and Hawai’i, who always had a
competitive edge in the pool, Krikorian looks forward to the
weekend.
“This is a good weekend to find out where we’re
at,” Krikorian said. “Three of the games we play are
going to be against teams that are very good, so we’ll find
out very quickly this weekend what our strengths and weaknesses
are.”
Defense will play a large role in the upcoming tournament. The
Bruins, always associated with a strong presence in the back half,
have been working in the off-season to be able to maintain a low
goals-against average.
“We expect to do the things we have been practicing well,
specifically defense,” Krikorian said. “We’ve
spent a lot of time in the last couple of weeks working on defense,
and that’s where I expect them to be the sharpest.”
Senior goalkeeper Emily Feher agreed with her coach.
“We’ve always had a really strong defense,”
Feher said. “That always takes time to build, but I think we
have the right chemistry to get there.”
Ultimately, for the women’s water polo team, this weekend
will be an opportunity to test the water.
“That’s the fun thing about playing in the first
tournament. You just don’t know,” Krikorian said.
“There’s a little bit of anxiety that goes along with
the first tournament. It’s a whole new game when they drop
the ball and you’re playing against someone new and
different.”