After an early-season wake-up call in Northern California last weekend, the UCLA women’s water polo team returned south to bounce back strongly with a pair of home wins against San Diego State and Loyola Marymount.
On Friday, the No. 4 Bruins (7-2, 1-0 MPSF) defeated No. 5 San Diego State (6-1, 0-1) 14-7 in their home and conference opener at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. UCLA followed that up the next day by defeating No. 9 Loyola Marymount by the same score line in a non-conference game.
The previous weekend, the Bruins went 2-2 in the Stanford Invitational, losing to No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 Hawai’i to end the program’s 46-game win streak, which dated back to April 2007.
“It actually wasn’t difficult coming off last weekend ““ in some respects it was easier,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “There was no difficulty getting motivated because we didn’t want (losing) to happen again. I loved the way our younger players and the team as a whole responded.”
In what has been a common occurrence in a number of their games, the Bruins took it to their opponents in the opening minutes of both contests.
In Friday’s match, senior attacker Katie Rulon, sophomore attacker Priscilla Orozco and defender Kelly Easterday and freshman attacker Sarah Orozco all scored within the first quarter and a half of the game. They put the Bruins up 4-0 before San Diego State responded by cutting the lead in half with two quick goals.
Then, UCLA went on a 5-2 tear to end the half up 9-4. After an early second-half Aztec surge narrowed the score to 9-6, the Bruins vanquished their opponents in the closing stages to end the game on a 5-0 run and open their MPSF season with a victory.
In their Valentine’s Day date with the Lions, the Bruins jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first quarter, only to allow LMU to close the gap to 6-5. However, UCLA’s offense was able to go on a 5-0 run to put the game virtually out of reach.
“Our offense played really well,” senior goalkeeper Brittany Fullen said. “LMU came within a goal of us, but then our attackers just pulled away.”
With the identical score lines, Krikorian saw some notable parallels in his team’s tendencies through both matches.
“In both games we got out to a sizeable lead, relaxed a little too much and played somewhat complacent,” he said. “That led to both opposing teams getting back into it, and making the scores closer than we felt it needed to be.”
Over the two games, Rulon led the Bruins with a total of six goals. Priscilla Orozco and senior attacker Tanya Gandy had five each, while Easterday and senior attacker Anne Belden both contributed three. Freshmen attackers Hannah Sebenaler and Sarah Orozco had a pair apiece, while sophomore attackers Noel Umphrey and Camy Sullivan hit the back of the net once. Fullen, who Krikorian deemed “fabulous” in both games, had 12 saves against San Diego State and a career-high 18 against LMU.
Both wins represented a big rebound for the team following the Stanford Invitational. Fullen particularly felt the team responded well from the defeats, a result many of the Bruins have not experienced in a long time.
“I don’t want to say that losing is good, because we obviously don’t want to lose,” Fullen said. “But the losses (against Hawai’i and Stanford) really did give us a good heads up and motivated a lot coming into these games. The team played with a lot more confidence.”
Krikorian echoed his star’s feelings, noting the program’s stature may have had adverse effects on his players while also recognizing the cathartic effect losing may have had on the team.
“The losses alleviated a little bit of pressure,” he said. “There is a certain expectation about water polo at UCLA, and I think the players felt that pressure and let it affect them in a negative way. Hopefully we can use it to our advantage now.
“We’ve got a nice little win streak going ““ it is good to be back at Sunset. The intensity in practice has become a lot better, and that should continue throughout the conference championships and NCAAs.”