After sweeping tournaments at home and in Santa Barbara, the UCLA women’s water polo team will take the road again this weekend for its third four-game tournament in as many weeks. This time, the Bruins will head to the Bay Area for the Stanford Invitational and their first true tests of the season.
No. 3 UCLA will take on No. 4 California, No. 16 Michigan and No. 14 San Jose State, and could face No. 2 Stanford if both teams win their pools in group play.
If the Bruins (8-0) face the Cardinal, it will be a rematch of the NCAA Championship Semifinals at Harvard in May. In that game, Stanford pulled off a 5-3 victory in what Stanford coach John Tanner called “an exceptional performance by two sensational goalies” in a postgame press conference.
UCLA’s goalie from that game, current redshirt junior Sami Hill, says she’s excited by the possibility of a rematch with the team that ended the Bruins’ quest for their first national title under coach Brandon Brooks.
“It’s always fun to play bigger teams. I’ve learned a lot, and I’m applying it more now that I’m older and have more experience,” Hill said.
Brooks also seemed eager to take another swing at the Cardinal, but said he was focusing on the games the Bruins will have to win to get there.
“If we get there, we look forward to it,” Brooks said. “We embrace the opportunity to play against the best, but we’ve got to earn that right to advance first out of our bracket. Michigan first, Cal second, San Jose third. You have to get through the first one.”
The eight-team Stanford Invitational features some of the best teams in collegiate water polo: four of the top-six teams in the nation will be there. No. 1 USC and No. 4 Arizona State won’t be competing in Stanford.
Brooks thinks that pressure could be a challenge for his team.
“When you go against better competition, you have to do things better,” Brooks said. “The teams are better, the pressure is higher. You have to rise to the challenge.”
Freshman utility Mackenzie Barr said she thinks that despite improvements on defense and counterattacks, the Bruins are still struggling with team focus.
Barr said that, “keeping (their) heads in the game” and “really being aggressive” were two things the Bruins have to get down for the coming games.
She added that staying focused for the entire game has been an issue for the Bruins, but that the team was moving forward.
“Every game we take as a chance to prove (performance) and learn and focus. It’s more about what we need to work on as a team right now,” Barr said.
Despite whatever challenges the team may face, Brooks seems optimistic.
“I think people are improving,” Brooks said. “Practice after practice after practice, people are getting better.”