When the UCLA women’s water polo team rolls into Long Beach tonight to take on the 49ers, it won’t be like old times.
Following a conference realignment, Long Beach State no longer competes with UCLA in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. However, that doesn’t diminish the game in any regard in the eyes of the Bruins.
“It’s really our first big game,” sophomore defender Megan Burmeister said. “It’s also their first home game, so I think it’s going to be really important for us to come out and get after them.”
The Bruins, ranked third in the nation, will see their first action since winning all three of their games in the Michigan Invitational two weekends ago. They will face a 49er squad ranked No. 16 in the country and playing their first game of the season. A season ago, the two teams squared off in conference play, with the Bruins winning 19-7. Like their opponents, Long Beach will feature a lot of new faces both in and out of the pool.
“I actually really don’t know too much about them,” UCLA coach Adam Krikorian said. “Like us, they have a lot of new players, and they have a new coach, and he does an excellent job, so I know they’ll be disciplined and intelligent. I’m sure they’re going to make us work for everything. We’re going to have to earn this win.”
While Krikorian admits that he would like the team to be a little sharper, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, he acknowledges that one can’t expect perfection at this point in the season.
“We understand that it’s early and we understand that there’s going to be some rusty moments too,” he said. “The big thing that we emphasize is that if we make one mistake, we have to limit it to that single mistake, and not let those problems build one after another, because that will lead to the other team going on runs and have us really struggling to stop the bleeding.”
One key element of the match is how the Bruins use it to build momentum and prepare for the weekend, which includes a trip to the prestigious Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto. And while no one is overlooking Long Beach State, the Bruins concede that their approach will be slightly different.
“Having to follow up this game with the weekend at Stanford does change our mindset a little,” sophomore attacker Priscilla Orozco said. “It makes us look at this game as not only a chance to pick up a big win, but also to go through all of our defensive and offensive strategies going into future games.”
Orozco adds that it is also the Bruins’ job to go out and justify their high ranking while understanding that the season is still extremely young.
“As No. 3 in the country, it’s important to prove ourselves and to prove we’re still at the top,” she said. “But if we do have losses, better to lose now than late in the season.”
In any case, with nearly two weeks in between games, the women are itching to get back into the pool against a longtime local rival.
“We’ve been working really well together as a team,” Burmeister said. “Practice has been going really well, and we are all looking forward to getting out there and playing.”