The No. 3 UCLA men’s water polo team stormed through its opponents and maintained its perfect record over the course of seven games this weekend, which was split between Westwood and La Verne.
The 8-0 Bruins easily handled No. 19 Whittier at home on Saturday as part of the UCLA Invite, racing to an early 12-0 lead in the first half. After halftime, UCLA scored another 9 goals, although Whittier was able to score three times after coach Adam Wright pulled the starting goalkeeper, sophomore Garrett Danner, in favor of two senior backups.
Later on Saturday, the Bruins played, and won, three exhibition games, including a 10-8 victory over No. 1 Stanford. That victory came after beating No. 6 Long Beach State and No. 9 Pepperdine and ensured that the Bruins didn’t lose in their opening weekend at home.
On Sunday, the team traveled across town to La Verne for the Inland Empire Classic, where the Bruins led 20-0 against the hosts going into the last period. La Verne managed a solitary goal in the remainder of the game, but UCLA added four more goals to win a a whopping 24-1.
UCLA proceeded from that win to beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 13-7 in a game that started a mere hour and twenty minutes after the opening sprint of their first game of the season, giving the team almost no rest between the games. Although the Bruins had a sluggish first quarter, which ended with the team clinging to a 3-2 lead, they were able extend their lead to six goals in the eventual win.
After the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps win, the team had yet another short window of recovery before returning to the pool against the Occidental College team, which only managed one goal in each half in the 23-2 blowout.
Over the course of the weekend, UCLA scored 81 goals while holding its opponents to a mere 13 in regulation games.
UCLA will return to action in the Kap7 NorCal Classic next weekend in Stockton, California, where the team will play Pomona-Pitzer in the first of four games of the tournament.
Compiled by Erik Rehnberg, Bruin Sports contributor.