The UCLA women’s water polo team’s recent hot streak has been consistently matched with the team’s suffocating defense. Saturday was no exception, as the Bruins continued their winning ways by stifling Arizona State 10-5 in Tempe, Ariz., this Saturday.
The No. 3 Bruins (12-3, 3-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) overcame some nagging execution problems to deny No. 6 ASU (9-6, 0-1) with their signature lockdown defense, allowing only four goals up until the last minute of the game.
“We were defensively good all around,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “We held a very good offensive team to essentially four goals ““ at their pool.”
Like many of their previous games, UCLA quickly broke out ahead. The Bruins stormed to a 2-0 lead behind senior attacker Tanya Gandy’s two goals. Though the Sun Devils came back to tie it a few minutes into the second quarter, UCLA scored another pair to jump ahead 4-2 by halftime. They led 7-4 near the end of the third quarter before senior attacker Anne Belden scored a breakaway goal with 20 seconds left to all but end a potential ASU comeback.
“That (goal) was big,” Krikorian said. “That shut the door on their hopes to make it a game, and we felt pretty comfortable at that point.”
The Bruins added another pair of goals to pull away 10-4 before Arizona State added the late consolation point.
In addition to Gandy’s hat trick, Belden and sophomore attacker Priscilla Orozco scored a pair, while freshman utility KK Clark, freshman attacker Sarah Orozco and senior attacker Katie Rulon added one apiece. However, according to Krikorian, the Bruins failed to capitalize on a number of additional scoring opportunities that could have put the game away earlier.
“We were sluggish and were not as sharp as we expected or hoped to be,” Krikorian said. “Our counterattack was weak, and we were a little slow. The half-court (offense) could have been a little more efficient as well.”
While UCLA’s offense was middling, their defense was the story of the day, limiting ASU to two goals in five-on-six attacks.
“Our five-man defense was very good,” Krikorian said, “We held their conversions on six-on-fives, and Arizona State has a very good six-on-five attack.”
In addition, senior goalkeeper Brittany Fullen, who has been at the backbone of the Bruin defense all season, had another solid game with nine saves on the day.
While the game was ASU’s official MPSF opener, all six of the Sun Devil losses have come against their conference opponents. UCLA has now won seven of their last eight games, with the only loss coming by one goal to No. 2 USC.
After several slips to start the season, the Bruins’ progress is starting to show up in their record, and that gives hope to Krikorian.
“We have definitely grown together as a team,” he said. “We didn’t have a great game today, but that’s going to happen. For us to come out with a win is an encouraging sign.”