LONG BEACH “”mdash; In front of a packed crowd at the Long Beach
pool, the No. 4 UCLA men’s water polo team defeated No. 8
Long Beach State 9-8 in four aggressive quarters of play.
In spite of the frequent drum of airplanes passing overhead, the
Bruins (17-5, 3-1 MPSF) pulled out of an early deficit in the first
quarter and never looked back. Though the 49ers managed to tie the
match a couple of times, UCLA affirmed its dominance over Long
Beach with consistent play.
“Today was a good win,” redshirt junior Logan Powell
said. “Any win is. Today our second string of guys really
stepped up and picked up where the starters were
lacking.”
The game kicked off with a goal from Bruin redshirt freshman
Krsto Sbutega in the first minute of play, to which the 49ers
responded with two goals. The Bruins came back to close the early
game deficit with a goal by sophomore Marco Santos.
From there on out, the Bruins maintained their control of the
scoreboard. Along with Santos and Sbutega, who notched two goals
apiece, redshirt senior John Blanchette, redshirt junior Grant
Zider and redshirt sophomores Justin Johnson, Russell Simpkins and
Matt Jacobs each came away with a goal.
Due to the grueling nature of the game, it is a rarity for the
starting seven players play the entire game through. This year,
especially with the depth of the Bruin roster, UCLA coach Adam
Krikorian has been able to rely on more than just the starting
seven to execute in the water.
The match in Long Beach proved to be a testament to the
team’s ability and player depth, as five of the nine goals
scored by UCLA came from contributors off the bench.
“The play of those guys today really shows our
depth,” Krikorian said. “Different guys are stepping up
at different times and today it proved to be very successful for
us. It looks like we’ll stick with what’s
working.”
Sporadically throughout the season, the Bruins have had
difficulties maintaining early game intensity deep into the last
quarter of play. But Sunday afternoon, UCLA was able to hold onto
its fourth-quarter lead with the help of its “second”
group of players.
“I’m really happy with our fourth-quarter play
today,” Krikorian said. “Especially the first half of
it, where our second group of six guys notched two goals for
us.”
After returning home from a weekend in northern California with
split results, the Bruins concluded a difficult week of practice
with a solid win over the 49ers.
“We had one of our hardest weeks of practice this week and
the guys are responding very well to it,” Krikorian said.
“It was a good win. Any conference win is a good win, and the
goal now is to carry this momentum over into next week.”