Coming off a three-win weekend, the UCLA men’s water polo team will look to gain some momentum heading into the postseason and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament with its last two regular season games in the next two weeks.
Despite the perfect weekend in the win column, the No. 3 Bruins (14-5, 4-2 MPSF) still have a lot of work to do, especially on the defensive end. Games against two top-10 teams, UC Irvine and UC San Diego, were very close, and there were plenty of goals allowed.
“We struggled on our 5-on-6 defense a lot this weekend, and that’s a big factor,” redshirt junior Chay Lapin said. “Games are lost on 5-on-6 defense. We’re going to practice this week and come out hard on Saturday.”
Lapin recorded 26 saves over the three-game span, but the team gave up 23 goals. Keeping the ball out of the net is what the coaching staff is emphasizing this week in practice.
“We’re kind of going back like it’s the first couple weeks of practice and really focusing on the basics and fundamentals,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “We’re really concentrating on our positioning and focusing on the fundamentals. I feel like we have gotten away from it a little bit.”
Krikorian feels that the defensive struggles are not a huge concern, however ““ just something that needs to be fine-tuned.
“We will get it turned around,” Krikorian said. “It’s something I’m not too worried about. A few good days of training, a good game this Saturday will put us on the right track.”
BALANCED OFFENSE: While keeping the ball out of their own cage has been a recent problem, the Bruins have had no problem finding their opponent’s net.
“We have done a better job the last few games in front of the goal and executing and that needs to continue,” Krikorian said.
In last Friday’s 12-10 victory over No. 9 UCI, three players scored hat tricks: redshirt senior Krsto Sbutega, redshirt junior Scott Swanson and sophomore Ben Hohl.
Against Concordia, six Bruins each scored a pair of goals with 11 players registering goals in a 17-5 trouncing of the Eagles.
Sunday, Sbutega added three more goals in his second hat trick of the weekend with redshirt junior Scott Davidson and Hohl each pitching in two.
This well-rounded offensive attack is something for the team to be pleased about.
“I thought we were pretty good, we were efficient and obviously effective,” Krikorian said. “Guys looked fast. Guys are in great shape, and our speed could really be a huge weapon for us.”
AROUND THE MPSF: No. 1 USC extended its perfect season to 22 games after home wins over No. 18 Pacific (12-6) and No. 4 Cal (14-6) this past weekend. The Trojans now have a 33-game winning streak at the McDonald’s Swim Stadium.
The upset of the week occurred in Santa Barbara Sunday, as the No. 7 Gauchos took down No. 2 Stanford 5-4. UCLA will travel to UCSB this weekend for an important conference game before its last game of the season in two weeks at Pepperdine.