The UCLA men’s water polo team got off to the start it wanted to this past weekend at the SoCal Tournament held at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool at Pepperdine. It was the ending that capped off a disappointing weekend for the No. 2 Bruins (8-3, 1-0 MPSF).
“It wasn’t what we were hoping for this weekend,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “We didn’t do as good as a job as we could defensively.”
The team cruised through its first game Saturday, defeating Bucknell 13-6. Redshirt junior Tyler Jemmett highlighted the game with three goals and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew Mesesan had an impressive collegiate debut with six saves. UCLA led the entire game and put a stamp on the game with five fourth-quarter goals.
Despite the win, not everything turned out well for the Bruins as freshman Clinton Jorth had to leave the game with an elbow injury. An MRI will be taken this week, and it is unknown how long he will be out.
In its second game of the tournament, UCLA rolled past No. 9 UC San Diego, 12-9. UCLA jumped out to a 5-2 lead only to have it tied at 6-6 at halftime. The Bruins pulled ahead with four goals in the third quarter and never looked back. Redshirt senior Krsto Sbutega scored four times to increase his leading total for the team and redshirt junior Scott Swanson added three goals. Mesesan totaled 10 more saves against the Tritons.
At the end of the first day of the tournament, the Bruins were in a good spot to reach the finals, but yesterday morning’s game set the theme for the tournament.
“The second day didn’t end like it should have,” Swanson said. “We didn’t come to play against Stanford. … Things weren’t clicking.”
All the momentum the squad had going into the second day disappeared as the defense couldn’t stop No. 3 Stanford and the offense sputtered. UCLA fell 7-4 in the semifinals.
“For whatever reason, we didn’t come out with the energy we needed to,” Krikorian said. “In the second half, we came out with a boost. We tried to force our counterattack on them, and good things started to happen.”
The Cardinal took a 3-0 lead into the half and was up 5-0 at one point in the third quarter. Redshirt sophomore Jacob Murphy found the back of the net two times and sophomore Ben Hohl once in the third to bring the game to 5-3.
Murphy picked up his third goal of the game in the fourth, but it was too late, and the Bruins headed to the third place game. Redshirt junior Chay Lapin recorded 10 saves.
More trouble and early deficits came in the last game against No. 5 Cal, a 12-11 loss for UCLA. The Bears jumped out to an early lead and were up 10-5 after three quarters. UCLA came roaring back in the fourth with five goals to tie it up and send the game into overtime.
After a scoreless first overtime, Hohl scored with 2:13 left in the second to give the Bruins the advantage, but Cal responded at 1:03 with a goal. The final score for Cal came off a rebound as time expired.
“Unfortunately, we lost on a last-second goal,” Swanson said. “It’s a bad way to end. We don’t want to go 2-2. Overall, the last game showed we were hungry for it, but it was a little too late.”
Redshirt junior Scott Davidson scored four times and Swanson scored twice. Lapin kept the Bears out of the net five times.
With a week before their next game, the team will have several things to improve upon.
“The issue isn’t being down early, but the issue is more of how do we want to play, and I was disappointed in that,” Krikorian said.
The multitude of goals allowed were the result of an inability to execute the game plan as well as opponents forcing the tempo of the games.
With the tough weekend behind them, the Bruins can focus on a brutal conference schedule that will determine seeding for the MPSF tournament and who will go to the national tournament. A rematch against Stanford next Saturday will give the team a chance to improve its 1-0 conference record.
“Now it’s just MPSF games,” Swanson said.
“It’s about getting wins in conference. That’s the way the season is. It’s going to be a battle.”