Tuesday, November 17, 1998
Trojans blow Bruins out of the water
WRAP: Poor execution, intimidation key factors in loss to top
opponent
By Steve Kim
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The heated water polo game at the USC pool stirred quite a lot
of water – as expected. With splashes here, splashes there, the
water was boiling. When the clock finally buzzed and the water
calmed, the USC Trojans emerged as the winner over the UCLA Bruins,
9-6.
The UCLA men’s water polo team knew exactly what hit it – the
No. 1 ranked team. And it wasn’t as if the team wasn’t prepared –
it just didn’t test well.
"We had so many decent opportunities offensively that we didn’t
take advantage of," UCLA head coach Guy Baker said. "You just can’t
play a bad game against ‘SC."
The Trojans led early with a two-point goal by Marko Pintaric
and another goal by James Castle. The Bruins followed on the right
track as sophomore Sean Kern scored with an assist from sophomore
Adam Wright and as Wright scored with an assist from Kern.
The Trojans scored two more goals in the second quarter while
the Bruins scored one, to lead 5-3 in the half. They continued
their surge with a 3-1 advantage in the third quarter.
The Bruins finally turned on during the fourth quarter with
goals by Wright and Kern, while their opponents were only able to
score one. The point deficit, however, was too much for them to
catch up to the Trojans.
"It was a tough game," Castle, a Trojan junior two-meterman,
said. "Both teams played well, some breaks came our way, and we
came out victoriously."
Prior to the highly anticipated game, the Trojans ironically
touted themselves on their ability to outscore their competition in
the fourth quarter. Though they weren’t able keep their perfect
record of fourth quarter advantage, they accepted the 9-6 win
against their rival anyway.
"We would’ve liked to have done better, but we’ll take the win,"
USC co-head coach John Williams said.
"We have to do a better job on our 6-on-5 offense because we
missed three or four we could’ve scored.
"And we are going to continue to work on good defense because
UCLA is a very good team. Our goalie had a great game today but we
probably gave them more opportunities than we would’ve liked."
UCLA coaches were just as critical.
"For some reason, when we play them, we don’t play the same,"
Baker said.
"We were just bad," assistant coach Adam Krikorian added. "I
think ‘SC’s got our number. In certain ways, I don’t think we were
comfortable with ‘SC. I think we were intimidated and we need to
get over that hump."
Krikorian said while the Bruins were off that day, the game
provides useful experience to the young team – experience that’s
needed to get a better feeling for their more seasoned rivals.
It’ll come in handy for another ‘SC encounter, which comes this
Saturday in Bruin territory. The game will not influence conference
standing, so it’s all about pride, rivalry and redemption.
While the Trojans secure the No. 1 MPSF ranking with 19-1
overall and 6-0 conference game records, the Bruins drop to third
with 15-4 overall and 6-2 in conference.
The Bruins admit to playing an unusually off game – but this
experience makes them more determined to perform better this
week.
"We didn’t execute our game plan and we definitely didn’t play
like we did all week in practice," sophomore playmaker Brian Brown
said.
"It’s all psychological. They’re in our head and we just need to
get them out because once we execute our game plan, we can beat
them. It would at least be a better game than what it was right
there."
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