Putting salt on the UCLA men’s water polo team’s
open wound would have been less painful.
Instead, an ample portion of pepper further aggravated what
could be a repeat of a disappointing season for this year’s
adolescent Bruins.
After the 2002 season, the Bruins finished 15-8, 4-4 MPSF
““ their worst record since coach Adam Krikorian took over the
team. In addition, they learned that the lightning of misfortune
can hit twice when they were doused by the Pepperdine Waves 7-6 on
two occasions, including a loss in quadruple overtime.
This past weekend, during the Pepperdine Tournament held in
Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool in Malibu, No. 4 UCLA found
themselves on all- too-familiar ground when No. 5 Pepperdine
thumped the Bruins 7-4. Later, however, UCLA did manage to salvage
its first victory of the year over No. 19 Cal Baptist in the
afternoon game, 12-5.
The loss to Pepperdine will likely drop the Bruins to the No. 5
position, but coach Krikorian is not worried about their current
ranking, especially at such an early stage in the season.
“The polls are about as accurate as college football
polls,” Krikorian said. “They mean nothing until we
play a few games, and then we can get an idea of where we
stand.”
The Bruins saw their first action of the regular season when
Pepperdine senior guard Scott Harvey skipped a shot past UCLA
junior goalie Joseph Axelrad, who started his first game manning
the net.
“I was really excited to finally get out there and get my
first game under my belt,” Axelrad said.
Junior driver Brett Ormsby, who led the team last season with 58
goals, posted his first goal of the season at the 3:39 mark and
later assisted redshirt freshman center Grant Zider, putting the
Bruins up for the first time in the game, 2-1.
However, Pepperdine then responded with a 4-0 run. UCLA
countered with goals by both Ormsby and Zider, impeding the
Waves’ onslaught and leaving the Bruins down only 5-4 heading
into the second half.
Unfortunately, UCLA found itself short on offensive
opportunities in the second half as the shot clock ran low on many
occasions. Defense was lacking, and the Bruins applied little
pressure on the Waves’ counterattack.
“They scored on a couple counterattacks, and the momentum
swung their way,” Ormsby said. “We couldn’t
muster any offense because we couldn’t break their strong
press, which further pushed us out of our offense.”
Pepperdine’s physicality was apparent throughout the match
but increased in the second half as the Waves shut out any type of
offensive attempt by the Bruins. Three Bruin ejections allowed the
Waves to capitalize on two 6-on-5 powerplays, and Pepperdine edged
UCLA for the third time in a row, 7-4.
“We didn’t do a good job handling their
pressure,” Krikorian said. “They were very physical and
we were back on our heels the entire game.”
Three hours later, the Bruins looked for vindication, and
unfortunately for Cal Baptist, UCLA unleashed its wrath.
Ormsby recorded his first hat trick of the season, and eight
other Bruins scored as the UCLA showed Cal Baptist the kind of
water polo they are capable of playing, drowning the team 12-5.
Averaging 7.70 goals (8th in MPSF) and giving up 6.87 goals (4th
in MPSF) a game last season, the Bruins increased their proficiency
both offensively and defensively against Cal Baptist.
“The main difference in the Cal Baptist game is that they
aren’t as strong as the opponents we play in the MPSF,”
Ormsby said. “But, I think a key thing for this season is to
play more games, especially against the better teams because it
helps us gain more experience since we are a young team.”
The regular season will unquestionably test the Bruins as they
face twelve of the top twenty teams in the nation, the top nine of
which happen to be in their conference.
“We’ll have to dig down deep all season long,”
sophomore center defender Michael March said. “But,
we’ve worked on our conditioning a lot, and I feel
we’re probably one of the teams in the best shape in
history.”
As for the youth, that seems to be a huge question mark for the
Bruins this season. Krikorian believes his team has enough time to
develop.
“We have a lot of players with potential and with flashes
of brilliance, but at the same time potential means you have a team
that hasn’t done anything or proven anything yet,”
Krikorian said.
“For our younger guys someone has to stand up and prove
that they belong on our team.”