The UCLA men’s water polo team was not as happy as it could have been.
Following Sunday’s win against Brown, the Bruins took to deconstructing the pool lines in a workman-like manner before leaving in a subdued fashion.
The subdued attitude could be due to the fact that despite the ease of Sunday’s victory, UCLA dropped a crucial Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) game to Stanford a day before. In that matchup, the Bruins were dominated by the No. 2 Cardinal, 12-2, falling behind 5-1 by halftime.
“What happened is (Stanford) got off to a good start. I got the feeling that the guys just felt like this was the same beginning the last time we played them,” coach Adam Krikorian said.
The Bruins lost to the Cardinal 7-4 in the semifinals of the SoCal Tournament. UCLA would then lose to Cal in the third place game. The Bruins will travel to Berkeley this weekend for their third match of the season against the Golden Bears.
The team isn’t ready to panic, however. Despite struggling in recent weeks, UCLA was playing outstanding water polo up to the semifinals of the SoCal Tournament. Since then the Bruins have had problems falling flat against big-time opponents. In order to bounce back against Brown, the team needed to change their mindset, especially after a crippling defeat to their MPSF rivals, Stanford.
“We talked after the game yesterday, and it’s something we can’t dwell on. We don’t have time to dwell on it,” redshirt junior goal keeper Chay Lapin said.
Lapin contributed to the winning effort Sunday by stopping most everything the Bears had to throw at him, restricting them to just two goals.
“Of course, there’s a bit of urgency,” Lapin said of UCLA’s current standing in the MPSF, having lost three of their last four games. “We have to play against Cal on the road, and that’s a really tough place to play.”
For redshirt senior Krsto Sbutega, putting the Stanford game behind the team will be crucial as the season progresses.
“It was good to be able to play right away and not have a day off to think about it. It was pretty rough,” Sbutega said. “It’s hard to tell what happened (against the Cardinal). Obviously we didn’t score, and the defense wasn’t there.”
That wasn’t a problem Sunday, as UCLA got two quick goals in the opening minutes and never looked back, opening up an 8-1 halftime lead before cruising to a 14-2 win.
MENTAL APPROACH: One problem that the Bruins had in recent games, according to Krikorian, was a misplaced mindset. Against Stanford, this proved to be a problem after the Cardinal jumped out to a quick lead.
“They just got in our heads too much, and that was probably the most disappointing thing,” Krikorian said. “There were times when we were feeling sorry for ourselves, and you can’t do that.”
UCLA’s next two games will be on the road, first against two-time defending champion No. 3 Cal and then at No. 1 USC. In order for UCLA to win these games, the Bruins will have to improve in the pool and relax.
“Maybe we were just too uptight,” Krikorian said. “We’ve proved we can play with these teams. I don’t believe it’s anything too huge that is the problem, we just need to get a little better mentally.”
AROUND THE MPSF: No. 1 USC still sits atop the conference after a 12-7 road win over Long Beach State. The Trojans have been dominant this season and have yet to lose a game. Meanwhile, Stanford improved to 15-2 on the season after a pair of dominant weekend performances against UCLA and UC Santa Cruz. Stanford goalkeeper Jimmie Sandman earned MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week honors for his outstanding play over the weekend.