There are no moral victories in collegiate water polo.
No matter how close the final score is, no team, no player and no coach walks away from the pool satisfied with a loss.
But for longtime UCLA men’s water polo coach Adam Krikorian, no stranger to winning himself, there was some comfort to be taken after last weekend’s 6-3 loss to No. 1 USC.
“I feel pretty good about where our team is, despite a loss to our crosstown rival,” Krikorian said. “I wasn’t too discouraged by what I saw on tape.”
The film showed some bright spots to the Bruin coach, who is looking for some quick answers as his team rounds the corner for the home stretch of a long season.
“I thought we did a pretty good job defensively. There were a couple of miscues, but for the most part, we were good,” Krikorian said. “Offensively we need to execute more from the center position and as a whole.”
The loss to USC was the second of the season for the Bruins, who have played the rival Trojans close in each contest, something that several of USC’s opponents have been unable to do.
Redshirt junior attacker Scott Swanson thinks that UCLA has what it takes to knock off its rivals if the teams meet up in the postseason.
“We know that we can beat them,” Swanson said. “Every game with them has been really close, and we can take that with us into the postseason.”
In their first meeting this season at the NorCal Tournament, USC scored in the closing seconds for a 6-5 victory.
Last Saturday, the Bruins suffered from a few bad bounces and some missed opportunities.
“Obviously the effort was there, and that comes from a good practice,” Swanson said. “We had a few easy opportunities that we just fell short on.”
INJURY BUG: This late into the season, nearly every team is suffering from bumps and bruises accumulated during the year. The Bruins are no different, and are still adapting to the loss of one key player.
True freshman attacker Clinton Jorth went down with an elbow injury just eight games into his college career, and according to coach Krikorian, is out for the season.
“I feel really bad for him, and he was becoming one of our best players,” Krikorian said. “It was just kind of a freak thing. In all my years of water polo, I’ve never seen someone have that injury.”
Jorth has been missed as an offensive weapon for the Bruins, who struggled to convert chances in several of their recent losses.
Much of the team is banged up, including players suffering from sore backs, among other aches and pains.
“It seems like every week one of our guys has to sit out for a practice. It’s been tough when you’re dealing with injuries to build any continuity,” Krikorian said.
Swanson agrees that the injuries are detrimental but are just part of the game of water polo.
“We just have to fight through adversity,” Swanson said. “Injuries are a problem for every sports team, and we’re no different.”
AROUND THE MPSF: No. 1 USC continued its drive for an undefeated season with its 6-3 home win over UCLA on Saturday. The win moved the Trojans to 20-0 on the season. No. 2 Stanford remained undefeated in league play with dominating wins over UC Irvine and non-conference foe UC Davis. Meanwhile, California finally got on the board in conference play with a tough win over UC Santa Barbara. No. 4 Cal will face USC this Saturday, attempting to become the first team to knock off the Trojans since defeating them in the national championship game a year ago.
Follow us on twitter for breaking news alerts.
