Every team meeting, workout, practice and game has been oriented
to this weekend.
Every pass, steal, save and goal has been executed to get to
this weekend.
Every exhibition, weekend tournament, road trip and tough home
game has given the Bruins the experience to get to this
weekend.
But for the UCLA men’s water polo it comes down to two
games. The Bruins open up play in the NCAA Championships this
Saturday against Princeton and would play in the finals Sunday
should they win.
“I want to win so bad it hurts,” said UCLA senior
goalie Joseph Axelrad, who has had trouble sleeping this week in
anticipation of the NCAA Championships. “This means
everything to me.”
Only one player on the roster ““ Albert Garcia, who
redshirted last season ““ was on the team when it last won a
championship in 2000. For everyone else, this weekend is an
opportunity to win their first championship, and for five other
seniors, this weekend is their last chance at glory.
“In the past, I was always able to justify a loss by
saying “˜at least I have next year,'” senior
attacker Brett Ormsby said. “This year, I’m not going
to get the chance to say that.”
The Bruins (23-3) enter the NCAA Championships, which take place
at Stanford, as the No. 2 seed and are heavy favorites to beat
Princeton (25-4). While the two teams did not face each other this
year, UCLA went 2-0 against teams from Princeton’s
conference, the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, while
Princeton went 0-3 against MPSF teams during the season, including
a 15-4 loss to Stanford.
But even more evident concerning the disparaging play of East
Coast teams is that despite receiving the No. 3 seed in the NCAA
Championships, the Tigers were ranked only tenth nationally
compared to UCLA’s season ending ranking of No. 2. Further
working in the Bruins’ favor is that a water polo team from
outside of California has never made it to the championship
game.
UCLA doesn’t claim to know much about Princeton, but does
know that it has a good goalie in Peter Sabbatini, who was an
All-American last year. The Tigers are a defensive-minded team,
having won their conference tournament final against St. Francis
only 3-2 ““ and the match went into sudden-death overtime.
No. 1 seed Stanford (22-4) is also a huge favorite in
Saturday’s semifinal game against No. 4 seed Loyola Marymount
(20-10).
So if both favorites win, it would set up a UCLA-Stanford
rematch in the championship game. The two teams have split four
matches this year and both were the dominant teams in the country
throughout regular season. Between the two teams, they lost only a
combined three games against opponents that weren’t each
other.
“The two teams know each other pretty well,” Ormsby
said. “We know what to expect from each other. There
won’t be very many surprises.”
UCLA’s last loss, and only loss since Sept. 19, came
against the Cardinal last week in the MPSF Tournament final.
Stanford and UCLA have historically been the two best water polo
programs in the country, as each has won four NCAA Championships in
the last 10 years. The Cardinals are led by Tony Azevedo, an
Olympian who is widely considered to be the best water polo player
in the country.
But the key for UCLA against Stanford, should the two teams meet
on Sunday, may be stopping everyone other than Azevedo. In
UCLA’s last win over Stanford on Oct. 30, no Cardinal other
than Azevedo scored. But in last week’s MPSF Tournament
final, four goals were scored by Stanford players other than
Azevedo.
UCLA coach Adam Krikorian said that if his team wins this year,
it will be his defense that leads the way, as it has all year
long.
“That’s just the way it has to be,” Krikorian
said.
Krikorian has seen many classic UCLA-Stanford battles. Still,
even though he hasn’t won a championship since 2000, he
wouldn’t place a greater importance on winning the
championship this year than in years past.
“For me, every time you get in a position to win a
championship is real special,” Krikorian said. “But
this year probably means a lot more to the seniors.”
And he’s right.
“We’re all eagerly awaiting the opportunity to play
Princeton on Saturday and hopefully Stanford on Sunday,”
Axelrad said. “It’s our last chance to
dance.”