When looking at the 20-1 record and the No. 1 ranking of UCLA women’s water polo, one might assume that the Bruins are in a league of their own.
However, the Bruins are faced with an all-too-familiar situation. Flashback to last year, and UCLA took a four-game win streak into their April 11 contest against then-No. 1 Stanford. The Cardinal handed the Bruins their first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation loss, 9-8.
From that point on, UCLA would not win another game against the Stanford. They played them again in the MPSF conference tournament final and lost. Then they faced them in the NCAA final and lost.
“In the games that we lost last year, they were close,” said coach Brandon Brooks. “It wasn’t like we weren’t right there knocking on the door. We didn’t execute. I think we have learned from that.”
Now, more than ever, UCLA has the opportunity to avoid a repeat of the past. However, there is a key difference between last year’s situation and to this year’s.
Redshirt senior goalkeeper Sami Hill explained that when facing Stanford, as well as any other team, UCLA’s focus is to cater to the way its opponent plays.
Whether that is learning a new defensive strategy or putting a stronger emphasis on team communication, Hill emphasized that each team, including the Cardinal, is a new challenge that needs time to be focused on.
“Those losses (to Stanford) are still feeling fresh in most people’s mind; but at the same time, this is a new season,” Brooks said. “All we can really do is use that experience to help us get better. I think that is part of the challenge, but also an extremely important thing for us to understand that this year is this year. We can’t do anything about the losses we had.”
Stanford is currently on a seven-game win streak dating back to its loss to UCLA in the UCI Invitational on Feb. 22. UCLA is on an 11-game win streak dating back to Feb. 1, when it lost to Stanford.
“The sting of last year is still there for sure for us returners,” Hill said. “Having that chip on our shoulder and knowing how much work it takes to get there to succeed is helping us so much.”
Sophomore utility Mackenzie Barr echoed Hill in stating that the focus for the upcoming games against the Cardinal is to not focus on the past, but rather focus on what needs to be done in order to be the best team and better than the day before.
“We try to move on from those losses because it is a different year,” Barr said. “And obviously we still feel it and how much it sucks losing to them, but we don’t ever talk about it because it’s a new year and a new season and we try to focus on the positives.”