Becca Dorst returned to the pool for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament this past weekend – and not a moment too soon.
With the UCLA women’s water polo team excited at the prospect of NCAA Championships just around the corner, the junior utility is glad to be back and playing with her No. 3-seeded team.
Dorst unknowingly sustained a concussion in a game earlier this season and, despite headaches, continued to play. But ultimately, the severity of her injury left her unable to play for most of the season.
Now back in the tank, Dorst understands the importance of this week.
“It always feels good to be back. I still have to put a lot of work in, make sure I’m good for NCAAs,” Dorst said. “(But) prepping the girls for the rest of the season is the most important part.”
The other players had similar thoughts. Freshman attacker Rachel Fattal was proud of the “awesome defense” that held California scoreless for the final 19 minutes in Friday’s first-round match, while noting that practice this week would be crucial.
“I look forward to having a really good week of practice (before NCAAs),” Fattal said.
The players noted that most missteps in the game against Cal were likely due to nerves, considering the importance of beating Cal in clinching the NCAA bid. Either way, the team plans on using the games of the MPSF Tournament as a learning experience.
In Saturday’s loss to Stanford, the players saw room for improvement – like a need to focus on shutting down some of Stanford’s most prolific scorers. Additionally, despite getting the win against Arizona State on Sunday, the team felt that the significant number of ejections during the game pointed to small lapses in communication and could have been avoided.
But overall, the women feel that they’re well-prepared physically, leaving this week for much-needed mental preparation.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of mental drills and not as much physical things (at practice), so we’re not as tired. It’s going to be more thinking and breathing out plays,” said redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Sami Hill.
“During games when it’s not going our way and the refs are making (bad calls) … just thinking positive and … not getting wrapped up in what happened is (important).”
The importance of mental focus and communication is critical in areas like defense – something the team will highlight in this week’s training.
“Defense is always the best offense,” Dorst said. “We will have good defense practices, and, like always, we’ll be competitive in everything that we’re doing.”