UCLA men’s water polo ended Friday’s 17-2 victory against No. 12 UC San Diego with very few regrets.
“We played from the first whistle all the way to the end really, really sharp defense,” said coach Adam Wright. “Our 5-on-6 was excellent. We were blocking the ball well.”
The No. 1 Bruins enjoyed a scoring spree against the Tritons, with 11 different UCLA players scoring against UCSD throughout the game.
UCLA’s defense shone as UCSD was shut out until the fourth quarter.
“As a team we came out with a lot of energy and we played a pretty solid defensive game,” said senior center Lucas Reynolds. “Overall we were really focused; we had a pretty good week of practice.”
Building this physical stamina, the players said, was not only important in Friday’s game – it will also be especially important this weekend as UCLA heads to the UC Irvine Invitational to face top-ranked teams.
However, the men noted that getting to this playing level took a much more conditioning-oriented practice.
“It was a long week for us,” said senior utility Aimone Barabino. “We had a lot of swimming (and getting in shape).”
This extra effort paid off, especially in terms of power plays. UCLA scored in 83 percent of its 6-on-5 opportunities, while UCSD scored in only 10 percent.
“I’d like to think we’re much better now than we were four or five weeks ago,” Wright said.
Earlier in the season, UCLA beat UCSD 16-6 in the Triton Invitational. The players, however, have struggled with maintaining momentum in past games – but the team considers its performance Friday successful.
“We’ve talked about the importance of how we approach every game and (Friday night) was great,” Wright said. “We started off really well and stayed on it the whole way – very big positive going forward.”