UCLA and Stanford will meet in a crucial conference showdown featuring an undefeated team and a one-loss team this weekend in Palo Alto. Oh, and there’s also a football game going on.
Before the Bruins and Cardinal battle it out on the gridiron, the nation’s top two men’s water polo teams from the same schools will meet in the conference opener for both squads.
The two teams have met once already this season, with No. 1 Stanford (8-0) coming out on top 6-5 in the championship game of the NorCal Tournament on Sept. 20. The close loss, preceded by a victory over then-second ranked USC, was enough to vault the No. 2 Bruins (9-1) up two spots in the rankings.
Although there is still plenty of MPSF water polo to be played following Saturday’s game, the Bruins are not downplaying the match’s significance.
“This game is just as important being played now as if we played them at the end of the year,” coach Adam Wright said. “It’s a conference game, at their place, and they’ve beaten us once. This is a big game.”
In losing by just a single goal at the same pool two weeks ago, the UCLA players and coaches were able to identify aspects of the game that could be improved upon in the rematch and could make the difference between another defeat and a redeeming victory.
The consensus was that the team needed to be better on both sides of the man advantage.
“Our five-man defense wasn’t as strong as it should have been,” redshirt sophomore attacker Cullen Hennessy said. “They got some easy goals off of that, and that’s something we’ve been working on since the first time we played Stanford.”
Junior defender Emilio Vieira echoed Hennessy’s sentiments, noting that Stanford’s talented personnel made a sturdy backline even more imperative.
“Our five-man defense is something we’ve especially focused on,” Vieira said. “They have a great right-handed shooter and a great left-handed shooter, so you always have to be ready and watchful.”
The focus of the Bruins’ defense will have to be the Cardinal’s set of high-scoring twins, senior utilitymen Drac and Janson Wigo. The brothers combined for all six of Stanford’s goals in the first meeting between the two teams and together constitute the Cardinal’s most imposing offensive threat.
Despite its season-long emphasis on the defensive side of the ball, UCLA knows it has to score more than five goals if it wants to unseat Stanford as the top team in the nation.
The answer to the team’s scoring problem could lie on the man advantage, which went 2 for 6 last weekend against UC Irvine but struggled against Stanford the first time around and must continue to generate scoring chances against the Cardinal backline.
“Our 6-on-5 wasn’t that good the first time we played; our execution needs to be better,” Wright said. “We had plenty of opportunities offensively to put ourselves in a position to win that game and hopefully this time we capitalize on those opportunities.”
Thus far, the Bruins’ offense has been led by freshman utilityman’s Josh Samuels’ 17 goals, while redshirt senior attackers Cole Consani and Scott Davidson have each tallied 14.
Meanwhile, redshirt senior goalkeeper Chay Lapin continues to hold down the cage on the Bruins’ backline, posting a stellar 2.80 goals against average through the first 10 games of the season.
On Sunday, the Bruins will face No. 10 Santa Clara (10-3) at the Broncos’ Sullivan Aquatic Center. UCLA looks to avoid a letdown, whatever the outcome of the match versus Stanford on Saturday.
With the No. 1 and No. 2 squads in the nation clashing so early in the season, the Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings are bound to be affected by Saturday’s outcome. From the Bruins’ perspective, the match represents a chance at redemption against an elite team that has beaten them once already, no matter how the rankings turn out.
“If a win puts us in the No. 1 spot, that’s awesome,” Vieira said. “But we’re really just out there to play our best and hopefully come out on top.”
“This is a great opportunity for us, and with the football game that day also, there’s going to be a great atmosphere there,” Hennessy said. “We’re really excited to go up there and hopefully get some revenge.”