Facing the undefeated No. 1 team in the nation at its own pool, the UCLA men’s water polo team has the odds stacked against it. Add on the fact that the game is against rival USC, and the stakes are even higher.
Saturday afternoon the No. 3 Bruins (11-4, 3-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will travel across town to McDonald’s Swim Stadium and face the Trojans (19-0, 4-0 MPSF), who have been unstoppable this season. Handing the team its first loss looks to be difficult, but UCLA feels it is ready for this huge conference matchup.
“We’re excited for the opportunity to play the best team in the country,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “They have been storming through people. … They don’t really have too many weaknesses, so we’re going to have our work cut out for us.”
The hostile environment for opposing teams has brought great success to USC as they carry a 30-game home winning streak into the game, not losing at home for the past three seasons.
USC’s roster boasts plenty of returning players and a very balanced attack. Aside from the firepower, they also know how to shut down their opponent’s defense. Last week, the Trojans went on the road and easily took down Pepperdine 14-5.
“You pick one thing to shut down, and they’ll beat you in another way,” Krikorian said. “We can’t just focus on one person. It has to be a collective effort, and we’re going to have to play great team defense and hopefully we can do that.”
2008 Olympic silver medalist J.W. Krumpholz leads the Trojans. The junior two-meter player has helped USC’s top-ranked offense to average 12.74 goals per game. On the other side of the pool, freshman goalie Joel Dennerley has only allowed 4.53 goals per game.
While the Trojans look good on the stat sheet, the Bruins know their opponent well from previous matchups. UCLA will look to rebound after a 6-5 loss earlier this year in the NorCal Tournament title game.
“We’re just hoping to have a good week of practice,” sophomore Ben Hohl said. “We know a lot of their players and hope to focus in on their tendencies and what they like to do. We need good defense and a patient offense and convert our 6-on-5s.”
UCLA will try to avoid letting the game turn into a shoot-out; instead, it will look to keep the game tight and turn it into a defensive battle.
“For us, it’s always going to be about stopping them,” Krikorian said. “It’s always going to start with our defense.”
The Bruins are coming off a great weekend as they defeated then-No. 3 California 11-10 and followed it up with a 14-2 beatdown of then-No. 17 Pacific. Hohl posted four goals against Cal, and redshirt junior attacker Scott Davidson tallied a five-goal game against Pacific.
The Bruins will look to their redshirt senior leader Krsto Sbutega, Davidson and Hohl to find the back of the net against the tough Trojan defense. Sbutega is third in the MPSF with 2.38 goals per game (31 goals in 15 games), and Davidson has added 21 goals.
Redshirt junior Chay Lapin has anchored the defense for UCLA and has protected the cage very well. Lapin is fourth in the conference in saves per game (9.50) and goals against average (5.64).
The defense will need to come through with a big performance Saturday, because that will translate into good offensive opportunities. The foundation for the Bruins has always been what they do in front of their own goal, and that philosophy will not change.
“Right now I think the key is our defense, especially our 5-on-6 defense,” Hohl said. “We have to keep their 6-on-5 to a low percentage.”
Despite all the statistics and strategy, this is still a rivalry game that has been anticipated by both sides. As soon as the ball is in play, there will be an intense battle for four quarters.
“The greatest thing about our rivalry within water polo is that it’s not just a crosstown rivalry but a rivalry among national contenders, and that makes it even more exciting,” Krikorian said.