The No. 4 Bruins have a lot to prove this weekend.
The men’s water polo team will host No. 2 Stanford (13-2, 1-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) this Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in its second conference game of the season and will look for vengeance after its loss to the Cardinal last weekend at the SoCal Tournament.
UCLA (8-3, 1-0 MPSF) had a disappointing showing at the SoCal Tournament, finishing fourth after dropping games to both California and Stanford. This week the Bruins lost their No. 2 spot in the polls to the Cardinal.
“Win or lose, we want to play well,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “We want to play good water polo, and that’s something that we didn’t see this weekend, and that’s something we talked about today before practice. I expect a much better effort this Saturday.”
For the Bruins, the key will be in offensive execution. During the game against Stanford last weekend, UCLA was totally shut out in the first half, something the Bruins are hoping not to repeat.
Krikorian said one element of importance for the team will be its ability to use its speed.
“(Speed) allows us to get into our offense quicker,” Krikorian said. “It creates opportunities off the counterattack, and then we are going to be getting higher percentage shot opportunities, and that’s what we are looking for.”
The team will also have to look for improvement in power play situations on both the offensive and defensive ends.
Krikorian and redshirt senior Krsto Sbutega agree that the team will be more motivated after the past weekend and will look to come into the game fired up.
“After you get two losses, and two bad losses ““ we got outplayed ““ you have to be motivated, and I know we are,” Sbutega said. “It was a completely different team that came to play last weekend, and I think we just have to get back to where we were before.”
UCLA will have to face off against Stanford without Krikorian on deck. Having inappropriately contacted an official at the MPSF tournament last year, he was given a two-conference game suspension this year. Stanford marks the second conference game of the season and therefore the last game he will have to miss.
Although the Stanford game will most likely prove to be a tough one, it will not be the Bruins’ only game of the weekend.
On Sunday, UCLA will host No. 18 Brown at 11 a.m. at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center.
The Bears are in Southern California to play four games this weekend, including those against Loyola Marymount, Claremont and UC Irvine. They come into the weekend with an eight-game winning streak. Last year UCLA beat Brown 16-4.
INJURY REPORT: Freshman Clinton Jorth is scheduled for an MRI today. He injured his elbow during the SoCal Tournament and is listed as “highly unlikely” for this weekend’s games. It is yet to be determined how long he will be out.