The clock was ticking.
With less than a minute to play in the 2014 men’s water polo national championship game, the careers of eight graduating Bruins hung in the balance.
The “Great Eight” – as coach Adam Wright preferred to call them – had amassed a stunning 80-14 record over the three previous years, reaching the championship game in both 2011 and 2012 but never capturing an elusive NCAA title.
In their final season, however, the Bruins truly became a force to be reckoned with, posting a 29-3 overall record, outscoring their opponents 459-175 and going undefeated in conference play.
When sophomore center Gordon Marshall’s shot found the back of the net with 34 seconds left in December’s championship game, the long-embattled seniors were finally able to add a national championship to their long list of accomplishments.
The legacy they have left, however, is more than just another banner hanging on the eastern wall of Spieker Aquatics Center.
“I said it after the final game (of last season), the biggest thing that the Great Eight left us was a foundation, a template of how we’re supposed to communicate with each other, how we’re supposed to train, how we arrive at the right mentality,” Wright said. “And for me this is everything: arriving at the right mentality.”
Six months removed from the takedown of rival USC Trojans, the Bruins now face the reality that last year’s leaders won’t be around to uphold those standards. With only two rising seniors next season – utility Danny McClintick and defender Anthony Daboub – the team’s new leadership core is undergoing a youth movement.
“We had great leadership from the top – the eight seniors kept us all in check,” Marshall said. “Everybody had really bought into our ideals of practice and the game, and we just really pushed ourselves and got it done in the end. Now we gotta get the younger guys to step up, make big moves in the summer.”
The Bruins will be thrown right into competition as about half the team travels to South Korea in early July to represent the United States at the World University Games and the other half plays 22 games of its own in the country, Wright said. Marshall, from Newcastle, Australia, will be participating with the Australian team.
The World University Games, held every two years, is an international university-level competition at a level below only the Olympics. Back in 2013 as well, members of the UCLA men’s water polo team represented the U.S., finishing with a 4-1-3 record in fifth place overall.
“We have a lot of games mapped out this summer,” said Wright, who coached the 2013 team. “Those games are going to be so critical for us because, the reality is, once we get back from Korea the guys go on a break, and before you know it we’re back to August, and it’s less than a month away from our first weekend of play.”
Then-rising freshmen Garrett Danner and Jack Fellner were key players for the U.S. during the last World University Games. Danner’s 90 saves were the most of any goalkeeper in the tournament, and Fellner’s eight goals were tied for the second-most among U.S. attackers.
Danner said that the games this year will be a key starting block as the Bruins prepare for their upcoming NCAA season with a new look.
“The juniors from last year need to keep pushing that culture change that we had, and spread it toward the rest of the team,” Danner said. “The new guys that weren’t around the team last year need to understand the culture and embrace it, and that’s more of the upperclassmen’s job to carry on what those eight seniors left.”
When the Bruins reconvene in August, they will once again unite for a common goal: another NCAA championship.
“We have a lot of work to do – a lot of work to do – and I’d say right now we’re still in search of who our leaders are,” Wright said. “The unique thing that we really figured out last year is that it’s not one person, not one captain. Everybody’s gotta pull their fair share and have a shared commitment and that’s the way you’ll get it done.”
Time may have expired on the UCLA careers of the Great Eight, as they went their separate ways after the 2014 season, but their presence remains with the men’s water polo program.
While Wright waits to see who steps into next season’s leadership role – whether it’s an experienced junior or one of the many key sophomores on the roster – the Bruins can begin their title defense with a foundation of both leadership and success already built.