Only two days of practice separate UCLA men’s water polo’s weekend victories against No. 7 Pepperdine and No. 6 UC Santa Barbara from Thursday’s crosstown matchup against USC – a team that UCLA has both beaten and fallen to in the course of one season, both by a margin of a single point.
The team, with only Wednesday remaining to prepare for the No. 2 Trojans (23-3, 5-2 MPSF), is not fazed, according to coach Adam Wright.
The No. 3 Bruins (26-2, 6-1) have had a heavy workload as of late, especially coming off of a two-game weekend.
“They passed the test of being able to play tired,” Wright said.
With that, the coach called the team’s recent workload difficult, but “with intention.” According to Wright, a key part of practice has been preparing for future games, whether the players on the team know it or not. When there are a two games in a weekend, it’s easy for a team to get behind when only playing week by week, Wright said.
That being said, Wright has made sure the team has been continually “sharpening” itself in preparation for the important USC matchup. The week’s practices have been, and will continue to be, lighter to give the players a chance to rest and “feel better physically.” As is customary after games, Monday was a day off for the players.
As a result, senior defender Chris Wendt said that the focus of the week will be on refining skills.
“We know that we have to fine-tune a couple things,” Wendt said. “We can’t really change too much, we just have to stick to our game plan and get ready to go.”
For Wendt, however, the hardest part of the week is staying focused amid emotions that surge along with the UCLA-USC rivalry. Adding to the tension between the two teams is how equally matched the two appear to be. UCLA, though ranked below USC in the NCAA, is tied for first place in the current MPSF standings, compared to USC’s fourth place.
“Everyone looks forward to playing the game,” Wendt said. “We need to make sure that we’re in practice every day, focused, get ready to go because we practice like we play.”
Senior attacker Paul Pickell noted that in difficult situations, the team’s focus has been not to worry, but to simply stick to its practiced, conventional methods. Wright said he felt the same way, noting that the USC team “knows” UCLA very well, and vice versa – and that ultimately, being able to play an equally-matched crosstown rival at home is a memorable experience either way.
“I’m sure they’d rather have it no other way,” Wright said. “And we would absolutely have it no other way.”