The next time UCLA women’s water polo will compete as often as it did this past week, it will be for a seed in the NCAA championship.
The No. 3 Bruins (17-1, 3-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), however, kept their eyes on the next game over their week in Oahu, Hawaii, as they cruised to a series of wins over No. 12 San Diego State, No. 8 Hawai’i and No. 12 UC Santa Barbara.
“It’d be hard to compare this weekend as similar to MPSFs,” said coach Brandon Brooks. “We didn’t really approach this weekend as a similar setup, even though it is three games in three days. … The goal for us is to always be improving.”
Brooks admitted that it can be tricky trying to balance having fun with playing good water polo while at a setting such as Hawaii, but both he and junior attacker Nicole Reynolds thought the team did a good job.
It got off to a fast start against the Aztecs with 13 Bruins splitting scoring duties as UCLA racked up 22 goals en route to a 22-5 victory.
Brooks’ team posted seven goals in the first eight minutes alone, a total that would have buried SDSU in the end, and would go on to post six in the first quarter in a 19-2 win over Santa Barbara as well.
That’s nothing new – UCLA has put games out of reach after the first quarter, or at the most, the opening half, in 15 of its 17 wins this year.
“Something that’s very important for our team is coming out strong,” said freshman attacker Maddie Musselman, who led all Bruins in Hawaii with eight goals. “Getting a big lead in the beginning of the game allows us to stay in front, whereas if we kind of lag in the beginning then its harder to catch up and we’re playing a game of catchup.”
In the closest game of the trip, against the Rainbow Wahine, the Bruins had six goals by halftime in a game that eventually ended 12-4.
“The score says it was 12-4, but it was a very competitive game throughout the whole time,” Musselman said. “Hawai’i never let up, and it was super fun to have a full four quarters where it was super competitive.”
The overall 41 point differential over the weekend added to the program’s best 18-game split in school history.
Coming into the weekend, the Bruins had outscored opponents 235-57 – beating the 1998 team’s difference by 34.
With their offensive production on the island, the Bruins also continued to be on pace to set the program record in total goals.
Behind Musselman, UCLA’s leading scorer, redshirt senior defender Alys Williams had six goals and redshirt senior attacker Kodi Hill had five, but the other 34 goals were spread throughout 12 other players.
What’s more, the 53 goals over the trip – tied for the most over a three-game span for the Bruins this year – comes as the regular season takes a crucial turn into a daunting final leg.
Starting next weekend, UCLA has dates with No. 4 Arizona State, followed by No. 2 Stanford the week after and No. 1 USC the week after that.
“Everyone’s really excited,” said Reynolds, who had four goals on the weekend. “This is what we spend so much time training for, and this is what we’re ready for.”