The women’s water polo team entered the season with one clear goal: a third straight national title.
On Monday, the road to that goal was laid out as the NCAA announced the seedings for the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship, starting on May 11 in Los Alamitos.
The Bruins (25-2) were given the No. 2 overall seed, not able to surpass top-seeded Stanford (25-2) even after defeating the Cardinal just a day earlier at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship. Stanford dominated the regular season losing just once to No. 3 USC (20-5), and beating UCLA on two separate occasions.
UCLA did jump ahead of Stanford in the Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings, just one of the polls in women’s water polo, but the NCAA gave the Cardinal the top spot.
Coach Adam Krikorian did not expect the Bruins to get the No. 1 seed entering the MPSF Championships, and the NCAA predictably awarded the top overall seed to Stanford.
As it stands, the Bruins will most likely have to defeat USC a fourth time to reach the national title game, and then face the Cardinal. The Bruins have beat the Trojans three times this season with three one-goal victories. And they had lost twice to Stanford prior to their stellar, 9-3 victory at the MPSF championships.
Before they can worry about their two rivals, the Bruins will play in the opening round against Pomona-Pitzer (20-9), a team they defeated 13-4 on March 3.
UCLA received an automatic berth for winning the MPSF crown. Four other conference champions were given automatic berths as well, Pomona-Pitzer, Wagner, Loyola Marymount and Hartwick.
The at-large bids all came from the MPSF, as Stanford, USC and San Diego State were chosen by the NCAA.
Last year, UCLA won the tournament as a No. 3 seed, defeating No. 2 seed Stanford in the semifinals and No. 1 seed USC in the championship game. The Bruins will begin their attempt to repeat on Friday, May 11, at 1:30 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for May 13 at 5:30 p.m. and will be televised live on CSTV.
RULON honorED: Senior Kelly Rulon won the MPSF Player of the Year award Wednesday. It was the second time Rulon was honored with this award in her four-year career, and the second time she has been awarded in the last week. Rulon took home the MPSF tournament MVP award after out-scoring Stanford 4-3 on her own in the championship game, as the Bruins cruised to a 9-3 victory.
This season, Rulon scored 66 goals, the most of any Bruin, and also led the team in assists. Her six-goal performance against Loyola Marymount set a record for the most goals in a game at UCLA. In her career she has scored 233 goals, just two short of the all-time Bruin record belonging to Coralie Simmons. The senior from Point Loma will have an opportunity to break the record at the NCAA championships.