The women’s water polo team effectively rebounded from its loss against Arizona State last weekend by earning two victories this weekend at Spieker Aquatics Center.
The Bruins carried on the momentum from a 10-7 victory over the No. 5 California Golden Bears on Saturday by notching a win against the No. 7 San Diego State Aztecs, 9-5, on Sunday.
“After having such a rough game against Arizona (State), (a win) was something that our team needed,” said redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Sami Hill.
Seven Bruins scored at least one goal Sunday, with freshmen, defender Alys Williams and center Alexa Tielmann, leading the team in scoring with two goals each.
No. 4 UCLA (18-3, 1-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) opened up the scoring in the first period with a goal by Williams. The Aztecs answered with a goal just 29 seconds later, but the Bruins closed the quarter with three consecutive goals to take an early 4-1 lead.
The first half ended with UCLA leading San Diego State, 5-3.
In the second half, the Bruins scored four more goals to two from the Aztecs, and sophomore attacker Danielle Ferraro sealed the victory, scoring the only goal in the last quarter with 66 seconds left in the game.
The match against the Golden Bears represented an opportunity for the Bruins to recover from their loss in the conference opener.
“I think that we got really pumped up for this game, (we) learned from the last match and just execute (plays) well,” Hill said of the win over Cal.
Senior attacker Gisselle Naranjo said that the team prepared all week to face a competitive Cal team.
“We came with a loss last week, so we knew that coming into this weekend we had to work really hard during the week to pull out this win and just stay strong the whole time,” Naranjo said.
Saturday’s match against the Bears started with a cheerful home crowd for UCLA as the Bruins scored the first goal, but Cal tied it 1-1 to end the first quarter. In the second period, Cal took the lead, but UCLA didn’t let its conference rival get too far out of sight, responding with goals each time. At the end of the first half, the Bruins led the contest 5-4 thanks in large part to a hat trick from sophomore attacker Emily Donohoe.
Coach Brandon Brooks said he was pleased to see a positive response from the defense and offense at the start of the second half of Saturday’s game.
“We settled down as the game went on,” Brooks said. “We got more into the flow of the game and we got used to the speed of the game and the way things were going, and we played better and better.”
The Bruins scored five goals in the second half while allowing only three, pulling off a victory over the Golden Bears.
“It’s a very big win for us (because) Cal is an excellent team,” Brooks said.
“We did a very good job defending and getting goals when we needed them. It puts us in better position. Nothing is final, but it’s a good result for us.”