The No. 2 men’s water polo team had no trouble during its first on-campus game of the season, easily handing No. 6 Loyola Marymount a 9-2 loss.
“I think that we came into the game a little too excited, and at the beginning we weren’t really sharp,” said redshirt senior Krsto Sbutega. “It took that first quarter to get it out of the way, but after that I think we did a really great job.”
The game was scoreless through most of the first quarter, with the first goal coming at 1:38 from freshman Clinton Jorth. Redshirt freshman Cullen Hennessy would draw a five-meter penalty shot right before the end of the quarter, with Sbutega finding the back of the net to put the Bruins up 2-0.
“Cullen’s a stud,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “He is tough as nails, a great competitor; he’s extremely quick and fast, and as a redshirt freshman, he is having a tremendous season.”
After the first quarter there would be no question of who controlled the game, with the Bruins increasing their lead to 6-1 heading into halftime.
Redshirt junior Scott Swanson would put a goal in the net early in the second quarter, quickly followed by Loyola Marymount’s senior Tim Heafner. Sbutega, Jorth and Hennessy would all add goals of their own to start a 5-0 Bruin run. In the second half the Bruins would put in three more goals to Loyola Marymount’s one. Hennessy would add one more, with Sbutega scoring two more goals for UCLA.
This game was Sbutega’s third of the season where he scored four or more goals. He put four past the Lions before being majored in the fourth quarter.
“It’s really the little things,” Krikorian said. “He’s getting ejected on things that are very easily correctable, so I’m not too concerned about that, he just needs to tone it down a little.”
Redshirt junior goalie Chay Lapin continued his outstanding season registering 15 saves before being relieved by junior Alex Lawrence with 2:29 left in the game.
The Bruins will have a quick turnaround before playing in the SoCal Tournament this weekend, hosted by Loyola Marymount.
“It’s nice having this day in between,” Krikorian said. “We would have had a practice today anyway that would have been very similar to the game … so with one day’s rest it’s going to be plenty to play at our best this weekend.”
The Bruins finished second in the NorCal Tournament and are looking to improve this weekend. They will open up the tournament playing Bucknell on Saturday and could play as many as four games in two days.
“When you come into these tournaments, it’s always really rough physically,” Sbutega said. “We want to stay consistent on defense, not allowing more than three or four goals per team. If we do that, I’m pretty sure we’ll be fine. We will score enough goals to win.”