Big Ben made some noise Friday ““ not that tall clock that calls out to Londoners every hour, but rather, its aquatic counterpart at Spieker Aquatics Center.
Ben Hohl was held quiet early against Stanford but struck like clockwork at the right time, nailing the game-winning goal to give the UCLA men’s water polo team a 9-8 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win.
The senior attacker put up three goals and a key assist and might have revived UCLA’s season in the process. The No. 3 Bruins (10-3, 2-1 MPSF) were coming off a listless 11-8 loss at the hands of Cal on Oct. 9, but showed poise in coming back from a late deficit.
“That’s the kind of player Ben is, to respond like that,” coach Adam Wright said. “He is a player who can take control of the game.”
Hohl had a hand in all three UCLA fourth-quarter goals against No. 4 Stanford (7-5, 1-1). His cross-cage shot into the upper left corner of the net with 6:40 to play wowed the crowd and gave UCLA a 7-5 lead.
“(Stanford goalkeeper Brian Pingree) was sliding in the cage and really lost where he was,” Hohl said. “So I picked it up and just tossed it to the corner.”
But Stanford rallied quickly: A three-goal run gave the Cardinal an 8-7 lead with 2:56 to play.
Wright called a time-out after an exclusion call on Stanford and used a designed play to tie it up. Hohl sent a pass across the face of the goal to a wide-open Griffin White, and the sophomore attacker put the ball away at the 1:48 mark to make it an 8-8 game.
“We’ve been working on that one for a while,” Wright said. “I noticed just kind of in their five-man (defense), the way they play and the way they move, that this was something that would open up.”
A defensive stand, something noticeably absent for UCLA in close games, held Stanford on the next possession, and Hohl capitalized. UCLA’s leading scorer beat Pingree from long range again, this time with 50 seconds remaining, and put the game away. Stanford’s two chances to tie were both smothered by freshman James Hartshorne, who had seven saves.
Despite falling down a goal late, the Bruins showed toughness in holding on to win Friday and returned Sunday to easily take down Chapman. Sophomore attacker Josh Samuels knew they didn’t have time to panic against Stanford.
“We’ve done that in the past ““ Cal, ‘SC twice ““ and that’s what’s kind of beaten us the past couple of times,” said Samuels, who had two goals.
“We made sure today that we stayed focused on what we needed to do to win, not just winning.”
Stanford had come out gunning for UCLA’s superstar, and it worked almost immediately: Hohl was kicked out for an exclusion just 46 seconds into the match and saw the bench for most of the first half. But Big Ben had perfect timing and came back to lead UCLA to an important conference win.
“Playing one of the top four teams is a rare opportunity, so every time you do it, you have to come up with a victory, and that was a major, major win right there,” Hohl said.