Glimpses of the defense that the 2003 UCLA women’s water
polo team used to capture its NCAA championship title are beginning
to surface in the play of this season’s undefeated Bruins.
Holding their last three opponents to a total of seven goals, most
recently Cal 15-6 and Pacific 15-1, on Saturday and Sunday
respectively, UCLA is fulfilling the challenge coach Adam Krikorian
has put on his team to hold its opponents to under four goals. And
because of that, UCLA has been able to keep its edge,
competitiveness, focus and drive. “Unquestionably, our
intensity and our sharpness have improved,” Krikorian said.
“Defensively, when the team is focused and when they want to
play well, it’s going to be pretty hard to beat us.”
Just two weeks removed from blanking Arizona State on the road,
UCLA captain Natalie Golda has taken the challenge on defense as if
it were a “game within in a game.” “Starting with
spring break, we wanted to change our defense,” Golda said.
“We wanted to shut people out, that’s what we’ve
been doing and judging by the outcomes, I’d say we’re
doing a pretty good job.” Along with shutting down its
opponents, UCLA (24-0, 9-0 MPSF) has continued to pour in the goals
in the opening period of each game, hammering its opponents by a
walloping 90-19 on the year. In the road wins over Cal and Pacific,
both games were basically out of reach by the first half as UCLA
led 11-4 and 9-1 respectively. “It’s been one of the
most gifted and talented offensive teams, no question,”
Krikorian said. “We have the whole package offensively. To
score 11 goals at Cal is pretty impressive.” The Bruins will
have to make the trip back up to Northern California again in two
of their remaining three weeks. But, with just three games
remaining in the regular season, excitement is beginning to fill
the Bruins’ minds as postseason nears. “It’s just
downhill from now,” said Kelly Rulon, who scored eight goals
this weekend. “It’s the fun part of the season; the
most exciting ““ MPSF and NCAA. It’s what the season is
about.”
MURPHY REDSHIRTS: After suffering from a blow to the head in
practice early in the season, sophomore Jenna Murphy will redshirt
this season. The left-handed driver, who scored 13 goals last
season and led the Bruins in assists with 31, has continued to
suffer from headaches. Due to the incident, Krikorian and Murphy
realized that making a comeback this season would not be possible.
“It was tough for her to come to a realization this was going
to be a redshirt year for her,” Krikorian said. “I
think she just wanted a little bit of closure to the season and
there was some uncertainty whether she was going to come back or
not. We needed for her sanity to make a decision on her future and
what she was going to be doing.”