Short-handed women’s polo
takes down Claremont, 15-2
By Esther Hui
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The UCLA women’s water polo team updated its record to 6-5 after
losing to San Diego State, 10-5 on Mar. 18 and beating
Claremont,15-2 on April 1, at the Men’s Gym.
Despite the absence of leading scorer Jennifer Cady with a
shoulder injury, the Bruins were able to keep the San Diego State
match close in the beginning. The Bruins posted four goals by
Stephanie Natcher and one by Devon Brewer, battling back from a 2-4
deficit in the first half to tie the score at 5-5 after the third
quarter. But the Aztecs rallied in the last period, scoring five
unanswered goals to beat the Bruins in the first meeting of the
year.
"We looked at the tape of the game when we got back from spring
break, and we had 24 turnovers," UCLA head coach Guy Baker said. "A
team will get the ball at the most 40 times, and that’s a generous
approximation. So we turned the ball over more than half of the
time. It’s a really negative statistic, but at the same time its
positive, because we were right in the game, and we were just
giving the ball away."
The Bruins returned to the Men’s Gym after spring break and,
assisted by Cady’s return, beat an inexperienced Claremont
team.
High scorers for the Bruins were sophomore Jessica Nelson, who
tallied four goals, with Natcher and Cady scoring two apiece.
"We did a really good job (against Claremont)," Baker said. "But
we were better than them and the score was what it should have
been. Improvements we need to make are decreasing turnovers.
Passing the ball is the hardest part of the game to master. We’re
always going to turn over more than we should.
"The qualifying tournament is in three weeks, and the collegiate
championships is in six. The women make dramatic improvements in
two or three days, so in six weeks we’ll be a lot better."
* * *
When UCLA goalkeeper freshman Nicolle Payne defended the goal
for the Bruins against No. 4 San Diego State on March 18, it was
after just one week of intense training with the U.S. women’s water
polo team. At 18, Payne is the starting goalkeeper and the youngest
player on the national team.
"Everyone knows that our whole team revolves around her," Baker
said of Payne. "She was practicing with the national team six or
seven hours a day, and then she showed up here on Saturday to play
the game against San Diego State. We’re fortunate to have her."
* * *
The National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Poll placed the UCLA
women at No. 6 this week. Other Californian teams include No. 1 UC
Davis, No. 2 San Diego and No. 4 San Diego State.
The Bruins were ranked fifth last week before losing to San
Diego State, and have lost to San Diego (6-3) in February. But with
so many of the collegiate women’s water polo teams having inaugural
seasons and never having played each other, Baker sees the poll as
only an approximation of what could happen at the Western Zone
Qualifying tournament in three weeks.
"Rankings are rankings," Baker said. "I don’t get too excited
about them. Davis has been beating teams pretty handily up north,
but it hasn’t played any teams from Southern California. So you
never know what’s going to happen.
"What this list does tell us is that we’re in the top four teams
in California. And to make it to the Collegiate Championships we
need to place in the top four at the qualifying tournament."
The Bruins have three matches remaining before the qualifying
tournament. An April 11 match with USC, and April 15 matches
against San Diego State and San Diego.