Think 2001.
UCLA coach Adam Krikorian is; he’s hoping there will be a
similar outcome.
Five seasons ago, the Bruins dropped a game early on to USC and
four to Stanford after having won the national championship the
year before. Yet, when it came down to the national championship
game, the Bruins edged a Cardinal team that had gone undefeated to
that point.
Krikorian, whose Bruins take on Pacific today and rival Stanford
on Saturday, likens this season’s team to that of 2001.
“Hopefully it’s like 2001,” he said. “If
you defined us by what we did in the regular season, we’d
have a sub-par season. A decent season. But no one is going to
remember that. We won the last game.”
But the No. 3 Bruins don’t want to have to wait until that
last game.
The Bruins (21-3, 8-1 MPSF), however, do want to hold the same
legacy as the 2001 squad. But for that to happen, UCLA is going to
have to put together some type of momentum as it heads to the
postseason. Thus far the Bruins haven’t been able to do
so.
“It seems like this team is waiting for something; waiting
for something to happen. You can’t always wait around and
expect you’re going to have it at the end,” Krikorian
said.
In terms of seeding, there are no ramifications. UCLA and
Stanford will likely face one another in the semifinals of the
conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
For UCLA, who has dropped all three meetings with No. 1 USC and
No. 2 Stanford (18-3, 9-1), there’s so much more riding on
Saturday’s match against the Cardinal.
“We’re going to see them again for sure in the
postseason,” junior goalie Emily Feher said. “We need
to prove to ourselves we can beat the top teams.
“We shouldn’t be doubting ourselves at this point of
the season. We need to get it into our heads that we deserve this
as much as anybody else. Hopefully Saturday we can come in with the
right mind-set and prove that to ourselves.”
GOLDA GONE GREEK: Natalie Golda, who was on
UCLA’s national championship team last year, will head off to
Greece this Saturday to play for a club team in the League of
European Nations.
Golda will try to lead the Glyfada club team to a gold medal in
the final round of competition.
“I’m excited about getting the opportunity to
compete and learn about other cultures,” Golda said.