One down, five to go.
In No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo’s first of six Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference games, the Bruins (12-1, 1-0 MPSF) cruised to a 24-2 victory over No. 10 San Jose State (6-11, 0-1).
Three Bruins netted hat tricks, and the leading scorers – freshman attacker Maddie Musselman and redshirt senior center Alexa Tielmann – each had four goals apiece. The other seven of UCLA’s season-high 24 goals were split between four players.
It was the second time UCLA opened up a portion of the season against the Spartans. Back in January, the two teams faced off in UCLA’s first game of the year at the LouStrong Invitational, and the Bruins were victorious by a score of 20-1.
This time around, the team’s game plan was to be more efficient on the offensive end, according to Tielmann.
“We wanted to try and set up our half-court offense a little more, work on our outside shooting and work on our passes,” Tielmann said.
Tielmann also said a lot of girls got to play in the game, which contributed to the fact so many different Bruins were able to find the net Saturday.
“So many people ended up scoring, which just shows how deep our two lines are,” Tielmann said. “It was really good to see that.”
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On the defensive end, Saturday was the seventh game of the season where the Bruins held their opponents to two or fewer goals. Sophomore goalkeeper Carlee Kapana played the first three quarters while freshman goalkeeper Hannah Storum took charge in the fourth and final frame. The two combined for 10 saves, and had a shutout going until SJSU scored its first goal with 5:57 to go in the fourth quarter.
All season long, players like redshirt senior attacker Kodi Hill, who scored twice Saturday, have said the team’s main focus is playing good defense.
“We held (the Spartans) until the fourth quarter, and we want to make sure that we are always strong on the defensive end,” Hill said. “Having defensive-minded players always leads to a stronger team unit, and we carry that momentum into our offense.”
The start of MPSF play means games against No. 4 California, No. 2 Stanford and No. 1 USC are fast approaching. Last weekend, all three competed at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, but the Bruins only squared off against the Trojans and the Bears.
[Related: UCLA women’s water polo invitational performance shows competitiveness]
Everybody on the team knows how important these games are, but at the same time, the Bruins just want to take one game at a time and control what they can control, according to Hill.
“MPSF single games are always important because it directly effects whether or not we get a bid to (the NCAA championships),” Hill said. “This game was a good start and hopefully we can carry that momentum against Bakersfield and Cal, so (we’re) just trying to get better every game and win as many of these games as we can.”