After escaping the Mountain Pacific Invitational with their win streak intact, the Bruins will look to tie a program-record 50 straight victories this weekend.
The No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo team (15-0) hosts No. 13 UC Irvine (7-5) and unranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (3-8) before playing an exhibition match against former UCLA men’s water polo players in an annual alumni game for a triple-header Saturday.
“(UC Irvine and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) aren’t the highest ranked teams, but we still have to be able to perform at a high level in each of these games,” said junior utility Alex Roelse. “Games like this – where we might let our mind slip – are a real challenge for us to keep consistent.”
UCLA’s struggles with consistency have mostly come on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, the team has held its opponents to seven or fewer goals per game since it has come back from Princeton.
But while the Bruins’ centers have been successful in drawing exclusions when the ball does get to them, the surrounding cast has struggled to feed them the ball to set up power play opportunities.
In the fourth quarter against No. 2 California last weekend alone, a combination of stolen passes into set, offensive fouls and sacrificed possessions added up to five minutes of zero production.
“We’re not the team that we want to be right now,” said junior center Matt Farmer. “We’re going to keep progressing in every aspect of our game, including our attack. I think we’re going to be able to get more balls to the center, and the center is going to do a better job with them as time goes on.”
Though a tough matchup against No. 4 Pacific looms on the horizon, the Bruins have a plan for how they can improve their efficiency.
“(We need to) keep our attacks spread out, so we’re not on top of each other,” said senior center Patrick Woepse. “If we’re more spread out, it will make the defense decide whether to drop back on the center or to press the perimeter players.”
Following their games against the Anteaters and the Stags, the Bruins will square off against alumni of all ages in a game where they will be able to play without the win streak hanging over their heads.
In years past, as a matter of fact, it’s been the one of the most competitive of the three triple-header games.
“The alumni game is a lot of fun,” Woepse said. “It’s a time to just connect, see old friends and bridge the gap between past Bruins and the present team.”