STANFORD — Within the first minute of the NCAA quarterfinal’s opening sprint, junior defender Alys Williams sent a skip shot into the lower right corner of the net putting the UCLA women’s water polo team on the scoreboard first.
From that point on, the momentum never left the Bruins. Having set a strong tone at the beginning of the first quarter, No. 1 UCLA was able to secure a semifinal spot with a 9-2 victory over No. 20 UC San Diego.
“I liked the intensity that we came out with,” said coach Brandon Brooks. “It’s always nice to score on the first play of the game. I thought throughout the match we did really good job defensively and got a lot of great looks.”
The Tritons (19-19) could not find an answer for the Bruins, failing to score a second goal until the ending minutes of the third quarter.
UCLA (25-2) forced multiple turnovers and held UCSD to minimal scoring with strong press against the Triton offense.
“I think our defense was pretty solid in the first few quarters,” said redshirt senior goalkeeper Sami Hill. “In the fourth quarter there were no goals, and so I really think we stepped up in our defensive and we had a bunch of lineups in so that was really fun having everyone get in and block. It made my job easy.”
With a comfortable 8-2 lead heading into the fourth quarter, junior goalkeeper Alex Mussleman was able to take over the cage for Hill, enabling Brooks to bring in different rotations throughout the game.
Hill ended her day with a total of four saves, while Musselman added two.
“When we have solid defense, that leads to us having a composed and calmer offense which allows us to keep our cool and then allow things to open up,” said senior attacker Emily Donohoe. “I think when we do that, that’s when we excel and allow things to develop and finish what we need to.”
Throughout this quarterfinal matchup, Brooks reminded his team that good things happen to those who are patient. Heading into the semifinal Saturday against Cal, the patient demeanor that UCLA showed against UCSD will be imperative to continue past tomorrow’s game.
“We are going to continue what we we’ve done well and just be more consistent,” Brooks said. “Just because it’s a national semifinal doesn’t mean we are going to play differently.”