What the UCLA men’s water polo team lacks is a driving force to propel it all the way through to the end of the game.
The team has, in the past, started off with a great first quarter or so, but lost its way toward the end, according to junior attackerPaul Reynolds. Therein lies their issue of consistency and keeping the intensity up – an issue that reappeared in UCLA’s 9-5 win over Long Beach State on Saturday.
“We started off really strong, which was good for us,” Reynolds said. “But we kind of had some trouble toward the end and that’s something we need to work on.”
Despite its win against No. 8 Long Beach State, No. 2 UCLA felt that it did not play strong the entire game.
“We need to learn to learn to keep our foot on the gas pedal a little bit more,” said senior center Lucas Reynolds.
The Bruins kept the 49ers from scoring in the first quarter – their strongest quarter of the game – garnering a 3-0 lead by scoring on three power plays.
Long Beach State pushed harder in the next two quarters, scoring two goals each quarter, closing the gap from 3-0 to 6-4 at the start of the fourth quarter.
“We can’t let up. We can’t do that. We know every team that we play is going to be tough and its dangerous to play that way,” said coach Adam Wright.
However, UCLA maintained a comfortable two-goal lead for most of the second and third quarters until finally breaking away at the fourth quarter, ending with a 9-5 win.
“We played really good defense, but Long Beach State came back in the third quarter,” Lucas Reynolds said. “It was good that we were able to rally and hold them off.”
Here, UCLA did manage to reach its ongoing goal of holding the opposing team to less than six goals. This weekend, the Bruins gave up only five goals, allowing no more than two per quarter.
“Defensively, we were really sharp, so I was pleased with that,” Wright said. “We created really good opportunities.”
The Bruins have been fighting to keep their top seeds and are now tied for third in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference, but have remained tied No. 2 nationally.
The Bruins will focus on keeping their intensity up as they travel to Pepperdine this Saturday in their final road game of the regular season, before coming home to host Santa Barbara this Sunday.
“One thing we have to learn is that we have to keep up the same energy and stay hungry,” Wright said.