LOS ALAMITOS “”mdash; As the final seconds ran off the clock at the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championships, UCLA coach Adam Krikorian turned away in disbelief.
The buzzer rang and the UCLA faithful erupted. Krikorian and the Bruin team leaped into the pool and floated in elation after winning a third-straight national title.
The weekend and the Bruins’ accomplishments were simply unbelievable.
The Bruins won two gut-wrenching, neck-and-neck, one-goal games to capture the 100th NCAA team title in school history.
“It’s all a little bit surreal,” Krikorian said. “What these girls do every single day is just amazing.”
No. 2 UCLA topped No. 3 USC with a 7-6 victory on Saturday thanks to a clinching shot from junior Courtney Mathewson.
In the title game, the Bruins held off top-seeded Stanford with a 5-4 win.
“It’s about being tough, digging deep, and finding a way,” Krikorian said. “We showed that we were the toughest team in the country.”
The Bruin defense was relentless in the two intensely physical matchups. Emily Feher was brilliant in goal, tallying nine saves in the championship. UCLA’s ability to thwart the penalty attacks of both the Women of Troy and Cardinal may have been the key to the championship.
“Our team defense in general was out of this world,” goalkeeper Feher said. “I was never really nervous because you could just see this fire out there.”
UCLA took an early 3-0 lead midway through the second quarter against Stanford. The excitement of the Bruin crowd was palpable at the half as the Bruins were cruising to the crown.
But after the Bruins took a 4-1 lead at the end of the third period, Cardinal sophomore Lauren Silver scored two goals in the first minute of the fourth period to bring the game to 4-3. The Bruin crowd went silent, but the emotional UCLA team stayed strong.
Mathewson scored the winning goal, with 6:24 left, with a bullet shot from eight meters out. She was wide open.
“It was just my part in the play,” Mathewson said.
“Courtney is clutch, that’s it, that’s what it comes down to,” Krikorian said. “Put the ball in Courtney’s hand and she’s going to finish.”
Stanford scored with 5:38 left to bring the score to 5-4. With 34 seconds left, Stanford held the ball and coach John Tanner called a timeout to diagram a last-chance play. The Bruins weren’t fooled, and the ball slipped out of Silver’s hands.
“It’s a game of inches. If that pass doesn’t slip, who knows?” Krikorian said.
Redshirt senior Kelly Rulon was influential in both games, despite scoring just one goal against USC and none against Stanford. By driving toward the net and forcing the defense to collapse, Rulon gave the Bruins’ perimeter shooters wide-open looks at the goal.
“What (Rulon) does goes far beyond what a lot of people even see out there,” Krikorian said. “It’s great having a tandem like (Rulon and Mathewson).”
The Bruins did not lead throughout on Saturday against the Trojans. The USC team pushed UCLA to the edge with a physical performance.
Kacy Kunkel was able to dominate in the interior, scoring two significant third-period goals.
“The way the game was being called it was basically a fight,” Krikorian said. “I just told the team it’s going to be the team that wants it more.”
UCLA responded after USC tied the game on a trick play with just a minute left. Mathewson netted a shot from the outside 10 seconds later, and the Bruins held off the Trojans in the final seconds.
The Bruins exhibited phenomenal toughness and determination against the Trojans.
“Just knowing that it was the last time we would get to play USC, that really pumped us up,” Kunkel said.
The Bruins reached several incredible milestones in their three days in Los Alamitos.
Rulon broke the UCLA all-time scoring record on Friday in the first-round win over Pomona-Pitzer. Krikorian won his sixth national championship in just nine seasons as coach of the women’s team. And UCLA became the first team to ever win three consecutive NCAA championships in women’s water polo.
But even with those amazing statistics, and the chants of “100” coming from the crowd, Krikorian was focused on the astounding accomplishments of his 2007 team.
“This team is really special; it’s one of the best groups I have ever had the opportunity to coach,” Krikorian said. “This is what athletics is all about.”