The result was one game better than a year ago but still one game short for the UCLA women’s water polo team.
The No. 3-seeded Bruins finished in third place in the NCAA Tournament, with their season ending after a 7-4 loss in the semifinals to No. 2 California on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
No. 1 Stanford (28-1) took home its second NCAA crown and first since 2002 after winning the final over California.
UCLA (26-7) avoided a repeat of last year’s NCAA Tournament showing ““ a loss to No. 6-seeded Loyola Marymount in the first round ““ by taking down No. 6 seed Indiana (26-12) on Friday. That set up a matchup with Cal, a team UCLA had lost to in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament championship game two weeks ago.
Their rematch was much like the last meeting, with UCLA unable to secure the lead. The Bruins were able to tie the game thrice but couldn’t get over the hump and move ahead.
“I don’t think we got the stops we needed to get at certain times,” senior defender Kelly Easterday said. “There were definitely momentum shifts that we could have capitalized on.”
Early on, the Bruins’ biggest problem was defending Emily Csikos, who completed a hat trick before halftime to give the Bears a 3-2 lead heading into the break.
UCLA tied the game at four with 38 seconds to play in the third quarter. But that would be the last time the Bruins held a share of the lead.
The backbreaking goal came at the third-quarter buzzer, when Cal’s Kelly Mendoza fired a shot that deflected off of a UCLA player and into the goal. That gave the Bears a 5-4 lead and started a 3-0 run to close the game, which gave Cal its final margin of victory.
“It’s one of those possessions where it could have gone either way,” Easterday said of the deflected shot. “It just happened to go their way, and that’s what happened this weekend. Bar out seemed to go their way, bar in seemed to go their way. Sometimes, you have to say, “˜What can you do?'”
“That gave them the momentum they needed to pull away in the fourth,” added junior utility KK Clark, who had a pair of goals in the loss.
The Bruins came back to take third place on Sunday, defeating No. 4 USC (19-8) for the third time this year. Clark netted the game-winner in a 6-5 victory.
Saturday’s loss ensured the Bruins would stay title-less for the second straight year, the first time that’s happened since women’s water polo became an NCAA sport in 2001. Nevertheless, Sunday’s win was still sweet for the seniors, who won the last two of UCLA’s seven titles in nine years.
“To end that game as a senior, ahead, is great,” Easterday said. “It means a lot to the team in terms of what’s to come.”