Momentum means nothing.
Just ask USC women’s water polo coach Jovan Vavic.
The Trojans came into this weekend’s conference tournament
having won 25 games straight, but dropped two straight to finish in
a disappointing fourth place.
Vavic declined to comment after their 10-7 loss to the Bruins on
Sunday and stormed off.
Just ask Hawai’i coach Michel Roy if it’s a surprise
that his Rainbow Wahine got to their first conference championship
ever, and he’ll say nobody knows which team will show up.
Just ask Stanford coach John Tanner, whose team fell to the
Bruins three weeks ago, what it’s like winning the conference
tournament and he’ll say it’s a starting point. The
real season starts in May.
With the NCAA Tournament, which is held in Davis, just two weeks
away, many coaches, such as Tanner and UCLA’s Adam Krikorian,
couldn’t help but notice how wide open the national title is
this season after the weekend in Irvine.
“There’s never been four teams that have been so
evenly matched,” said Krikorian after the Bruins finished
third in the conference tournament. “There’s always
been one team that has been the favorite, and then another team
really close and then no one else. It’s not like that
anymore. Any team can win.”
“USC isn’t clearly superior to the other teams, so
to see them stumble isn’t surprising,” Tanner said.
And so the preparation for round two of this up-for-grabs season
begins after the national collegiate women’s water polo
selection show airs on CSTV today at 5 p.m.
Despite the pair of losses this weekend, USC (25-2) will likely
hold on to its top rank.
After earning an automatic bid, Stanford (22-4), which has won
four of the last seven Mountain Pacific Sports Federation titles,
will likely jump to the second seed with UCLA (26-4) falling to the
third seed.
Both USC and UCLA will likely earn NCAA at-large bids.
After defeating USC in the semifinals, Hawai’i (17-10)
will have a slight edge to earn the third and final at-large bid
over Loyola Marymount, which lost to UC Davis in the Western Water
Polo Association conference tournament.
On the final day of the MPSF Tournament, the No. 1 Trojans had
blowout on their minds, jumping out to a 3-1 lead at the end of the
first period. But UCLA responded.
The Bruins went on a 3-1 run of their own in the second period,
tying the game at 4-4 after UCLA junior driver Kelly Rulon rifled a
six-meter skip shot in the left side of the cage during a 6-on-5
advantage play.
The Bruins were an efficient 5-for-6 on their man-advantage to
USC’s 4-for-12.
Bruin junior driver Molly Cahill, who has been questionable in
terms of her aggression on the offensive side, came up huge in the
third period, scoring back-to-back goals for the Bruins to give
them a 6-5 lead.
“Coach said to be aggressive, so I faked it in to Brittany
Rowe, and I took the shot instead,” Cahill said.
UCLA never trailed from that point on, outscoring the Trojans
6-3 in the final two periods of play.
The Bruins closed the deal against the Trojans because of the
play of UCLA’s role players.
In the middle of the season, Krikorian questioned his coaching
strategy of spreading playing time around to all his players in
hopes of developing them.
It paid off, Krikorian admits.
Cahill finished with two goals, and freshman driver Tanya Gandy
and sophomore driver Courtney Mathewson each scored one in
Sunday’s win.
“Those girls, they’ve gained valuable experience,
and they’re learning to be aggressive,” Krikorian said.
“They struggled with confidence at times, but if you
don’t give them an opportunity, they’re always going to
be like that.”
Teams will now take the next two weeks to prepare for the NCAA
Tournament.
The Trojans, who were emotionally down after this weekend, are
still the team to beat, according to both Krikorian and Roy.
But one Bruin’s statement may very well encapsulate this
NCAA Tournament.
“Anything can happen,” senior Kristina Kunkel said.
“That’s what everyone saw this weekend.”