Though the water polo community tagged the UCLA women’s
water polo team as the heavy favorite to capture this year’s
national title, this weekend showed that the gap between the Bruins
and everyone else is not that wide.
In the Gaucho Invitational in Santa Barbara, No. 1 UCLA was
tested and battered, but ultimately showed the dominance everyone
has spoken of, defeating USC, 10-6, in overtime in the championship
game on Sunday.
While they may have walked away with the title, the Bruins
realized that teams are not going to just roll over.
“We all thought in the beginning of the season that it
wasn’t going to be easy,” said sophomore goalie Emily
Feher, who finished with 13 saves in the game. “We all knew
that teams were going to gun for us.
“But we showed as long as we do what we can do,
there’s no way teams can beat us,” she said.
In the two overtime periods, the Bruins (14-0, 3-0 MPSF) finally
displayed their might, outscoring the Trojans 4-0.
But, if it weren’t for junior Thalia Munro, who finished
with two goals in the title game and eight goals in the tournament,
the game wouldn’t have gone into overtime. The Bruins led for
the majority of the game, but trailed late in the fourth period
until Munro scored to send it into overtime.
“She does a lot for us; she’s scoring a lot of goals
and that’s great, but that’s not even her best
attribute,” UCLA coach Adam Krikorian said. “I think
she’s the best defender in country.
“I think this weekend was very good for her because
it’s a boost of confidence for her on the offensive
side,” he said.
For the second time this season, UCLA and No. 2 USC ““ last
year’s national champions ““ met each other in the
championship match of a tournament. The Bruins have prevailed both
times.
That wasn’t the only close game that the Bruins had in
Santa Barbara. Against No. 9 Hawai’i, it took a goal by
freshman driver Brittany Rowe with just 1:49 in the final period to
give UCLA a 6-5 win.
Though his team is as gifted as any team in the country,
Krikorian has harped on how the Bruins have been susceptible to
mental lapses, leaving them vulnerable to capable opponents.
“I think this team has a tendency to be complacent because
we’re so talented,” Krikorian said. “It’s
an unfortunate thing, and it’s no excuse, we can be
complacent at times and still win. But that’s not how we want
to play. We don’t want to establish that trend.”