Seeing that the UCLA men’s water polo team has yet to put
together a string of two consecutive victories this season, it
seemed like the Bruins were destined for a split this weekend.
Coming home Sunday after defeating No. 5 UC San Diego 5-3 on
Friday, UCLA’s streak of splits ended with a 12-8 victory
over No. 9 UC Irvine in front of a rowdy crowd at the Sunset Canyon
Recreation Center.
The No. 7 Bruins’ (5-3) swift offense struck the Anteaters
so early and so often that even a malfunctioning clock after the
tip-off could not impede UCLA.
With only 17 seconds off the clock in the opening period,
sophomore center defender Michael March rifled a shot from
10-meters out past UCI sophomore goalie Joe Wynne. With March
setting the pace early on, junior driver Brett Ormsby, the leading
scorer for the Bruins with 19 goals, answered back with a takeaway
of his own. Ormsby swam past the rest of the Anteaters when he
abruptly stopped in front of Wynn at two-meters.
With a couple of head-and-arm pump fakes, Ormsby slyly skipped a
shot into the right side of UCI’s cage.
“I’ve concentrated a lot on staying calm,”
Ormsby said. “Playing within the game, not being too
aggressive, and being selective of my shots have all been keys to
my success this year.”
UCLA’s lead increased to three behind a clean-up act by
junior driver Peter Belden after an Ormsby miss. However, moments
later, UCI’s junior center Dan Noon put the Anteaters on the
board with 3:00 to go after converting a 6-on-5 opportunity.
Behind junior goalie Joseph Axelrad’s six saves and the
rest of the Bruins’ pressing defense, the Bruins got off to
an early 4-1 advantage over the Anteaters.
“UCI is a very physical team and it’s hard to match
up with them, but we came out really focused this game,”
Axelrad said. “A big thing for us was that we set the tempo
from the beginning of the game by scoring on our first
possession.”
In the second period, it was Noon setting the tempo for the
Anteaters. He recorded a hat trick in the second half off two
assists from his teammate Rick Merlo, and finished with a game-high
five goals.
The Bruins would answer back with the help of junior center Ted
Peck’s two-meter goal.
After the goal, Peck, who finished with three goals, threw his
fist up in the air in exhilaration.
“I feel like if we can play this way, like we did against
UCI, we can’t be beat,” Peck said. “Being
emotional is a key component of our team that we lacked this season
and that’s a big reason why we haven’t been successful.
As long as we get fired up and go crazy we can beat anyone we play
out there.”
Ormsby, who finished with four goals, recorded a hat trick in
the waning seconds of the second quarter off a pass from March.
UCLA went on a 3-2 run in the third quarter and stretched its
lead to five heading into the final quarter.
A victory for UCLA looked all but sealed, but UCI went on a 2-0
run early on in the quarter. Nevertheless, Peck, despite having his
helmet ripped off his head by an anteater defender, was able to
answer back with two consecutive goals giving the Bruins their
first back-to-back victory of the season 12-8.
“Since this team is so young, we’re going to
steadily improve with each game we play,” head coach Adam
Krikorian said. “If we keep dictating the tempo of each game
early on like we did this past weekend and continue to get better
on our 6-on-5 opportunities we will eventually be able to be
contenders for the championship.”