If the UCLA men’s water polo team wishes to continue the
pattern of shifting ranks, it will have to overcome its tendency to
give up leads in the fourth quarter. This lack of intensity has
cost the team a handful of losses to some of the top teams in the
nation, including giving up a 3-goal fourth-quarter lead to
Stanford last weekend ““ ultimately resulting in the first
conference loss of the season for the Bruins. The inability of the
team to finish strong has compelled coach Adam Krikorian to dish
out some of the most grueling workout regimens of the season.
“Last week was one of the hardest weeks of practice
we’ve had,” Krikorian said. “We’ll work
very hard over the next two weeks as well.” With teams like
USC and Pepperdine on the schedule in the next two weeks leading up
to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference tournament,
the Bruins will have multiple opportunities to show Krikorian his
practices have been effective and prove to themselves that the
physical demands have been worth it. “They’ve been
tough,” redshirt junior Logan Powell said. “But
everyone is willing to work hard and we are all concentrating on
ourselves and on improvement. We know it takes hard work to do
well.” If UCLA’s ultimate goal is to win an NCAA title,
the Bruins have to overcome their late game crumbles. Because when
a national title is at stake, it’s entirely insufficient to
evade victory by giving up early game dominance. Of course, winning
games results in heightened confidence, but Krikorian is focusing
on building team confidence in practices. “Certainly wins are
nice,” Krikorian said. “But it’s more important
to build our confidence in practice. As long as these guys keep
working this hard in practice I think we’ll be in good
shape.”
EXPECTED RESULT: While winning this weekend was
certainly nice for the UCLA men’s water polo team, it was
also expected; the fourth ranked team is usually expected to
prevail over the ninth-ranked team. However, it is the
higher-ranked teams, not teams like Long Beach State, that have
given the Bruins the most trouble this season. After defeating the
No. 2 California Bears in conference play, the Bruins later fell
again to Cal in the Northern California tournament. The Bruins have
also lost three times to No. 3 Stanford, but have yet to face No. 1
USC this season.
CONFERENCE SHAKE-UP: USC took control of the
MPSF conference standings on Saturday with a 8-7 overtime victory
over the Stanford Cardinal. The Cardinal was also upset by No. 6 UC
Irvine on Sunday. With the losses, the Cardinal dropped below UCLA
and Cal to fourth in the MPSF. UCLA moved into third place with a
victory over Long Beach State and Cal moved into second with
victories over Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara.