In the fourth quarter of the championship game against California, with a little less than five minutes to play, coach Brandon Brooks shouted across the pool to his team, “You have a lot of time.”
With a fresh shot clock and leading by two goals, Brooks kept reassuring his team to protect the ball.
The Bruins were able to slow down the pace of their game and set up their offense. In doing so, sophomore utility Mackenzie Barr netted a skip shot into the net on a 6-on-5 exclusion, putting the Bruins up by three goals in the fourth.
However, the Golden Bears were able to find two goals of their own to close the gap and pull the score to 9-8.
Cal regained possession of the ball with 40 seconds of regular play remaining and had one last opportunity to tie the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship game. However, with strong defense in the cage by redshirt senior goalkeeper Sami Hill as well as from defenders, the Golden Bears could not find an answer in the remaining seconds and the Bruins emerged victorious.
“Cal got a shot of at the end and we blocked it,” said Hill. “I think we really just stuck to our game plan and didn’t stray away from it and we got a good stop.”
After falling short last season in the MPSF final against rival Stanford, as well as in the semifinal two years ago, UCLA was able to reclaim its prestige.
“I feel great and I am very happy for the team,” Brooks said. “I thought we stayed consistent and we never lost control of our attitudes. And that allowed us to stay with the game from quarter to quarter and play to play.”
However, unlike last season where UCLA met Stanford in the MPSF final, the Bruins did not establish their dominance against the Cardinal in this MPSF final matchup. They faced No. 4-seeded California.
“We were already in the finals so we were just waiting to see who won and working off that. I don’t think our mindset changed at all,” said Sami Hill. “A championship game is a championship game; you have to be ready to play no matter what. We were just excited to have the chance to be the champion.”
The huge upset in the semifinal game between No. 4 Cal and No. 1 Stanford forced the Cardinal to compete for third place in the MPSF conference instead.
Road to victory
The Bruins did not achieve their championship title without trials and tribulations, however, as Saturday’s semifinal against crosstown rival USC proved to be a back-and-forth battle for a spot in the final.
“Being able to stay calm and keep our communication up is what holds our defense together,” said junior attacker Kodi Hill. “When things are getting pretty ugly and not going exactly the way we want it to go our ability to stay levelheaded (is key).”
With the help of six goals from junior attacker Rachel Fattal and solid defense throughout the remaining minutes of the fourth quarter, the Bruins were able to advance to the final game against Cal.
“Throughout the tournament I think we suffered a little bit on our communication on defense, but we were able to find a way to win,” said Sami Hill. “It was just a testament to how we are able to shift gears and shift to what’s important instead of dwelling on things we are doing poorly on in the game”
This MPSF championship win has earned UCLA an automatic bid in the upcoming NCAA final which will be held at Stanford.
“I don’t know (if it’s our year to win the NCAA Championship),” Brooks said. “I wish that I did, but I feel confident in our team and we are going to everything we can to prepare to make that come true.”