STANFORD “”mdash; They blew a two-goal lead in the last minute of
regulation.
They were behind twice in overtime.
They had to overcome three of their key players being ejected
from the game.
They had to kill over twice as many power plays as their
opponents.
They were nearly victims of one of the biggest upsets in water
polo history the previous night against Princeton.
But despite all of that, the players on the UCLA men’s
water polo team still got to throw their coaches into the pool and
celebrate as UCLA defeated Stanford 10-9 in double overtime to
become the 2004 NCAA men’s water polo champions at
Stanford’s Avery Aquatics Center on Sunday.
“It’s one of the best feelings in the world,”
UCLA coach Adam Krikorian said about being thrown into the pool.
“Unquestionably, in my experience, this is the most
courageous effort I have ever seen.”
The win gives the Bruins their first NCAA Championship since
2000 and the eighth in the program’s history.
The victory capped off a crazy weekend and a stellar season for
UCLA.
After narrowly edging out Princeton in double-overtime on
Saturday, the Bruins seemingly had the championship clinched
against Stanford when attacker Brett Ormsby scored an insurance
goal with 3:14 left in the game, putting UCLA up 7-5.
But over the next two minutes, Stanford not only attempted five
shots on goal, but the Bruins got two of their key players ejected,
Albert Garcia and redshirt freshman Matt Jacobs.
Stanford narrowed the gap when Peter Varellas scored with 51
seconds left, putting the Cardinal within one at 7-6.
After an offensive foul by UCLA, the Cardinal countered and tied
the game 7-7 when star attacker Tony Azevedo found the left side of
the cage with only 21 seconds left.
“Letting them come back like that was demoralizing, and
then we let them score the first goal in overtime,” senior
attacker Peter Belden said. “A lot of teams wouldn’t
come back from that. It shows the incredible heart of our
team.”
After both teams were tied at 8-8 after the first overtime,
Stanford took the early lead in the second overtime, when Varellas
scored with 1:54 left. But unfazed, Bruin senior Ted Peck would
knot the game at 9-9 on a 6-on-5 situation with just 1:18
remaining.
With under one minute to play and UCLA on a man-advantage, UCLA
senior attacker Josh Hewko’s shot skipped off the reach of
Stanford goalie Chad Taylor and fortuitiously bounced into the
waiting hands of sophomore Logan Powell. Powell delivered the final
blow, the eventual championship clincher, by rocketing a shot on
the right side as it barely crossed the goal line.
“I just happened to be in the right spot at the right
time,” Powell said.
The fact he was even in the game was unexpected. Powell had only
played three minutes during regulation, but was forced to play
during the overtimes because of the ejections of three other
Bruins. He and teammate David Pietsch, who did not play at all
during regulation, came in off the bench and played well on
defense, limiting Stanford to only two overtime goals.
“As I’ve been saying all year, this is the deepest
team I have ever had,” Krikorian said. “It shows that
even if those guys weren’t getting a lot of playing time,
they were mentally ready to play.”
Another part of UCLA’s game that Krikorian had stressed
all year long was power-play situations.
Stanford was awarded 13 extra-man situations, compared to
UCLA’s six. The Bruins held the powerful Cardinal offense to
6-for-13 on the power play, and while they scored on only half of
its power plays, UCLA went 2-for-2 in overtime in extra-man
situations, when the Bruins needed to score the most.
All season long UCLA’s defense played a role in its
success and Sunday was no different. The Bruin defense limited
Stanford to five goals until the final minute of regulation, and
held Azevedo, largely considered to be the best collegiate water
polo player in the country, to only one goal, which came in the
last minute of regulation.
“It’s part of UCLA water polo to put a premium on
defense,” senior goalie Joseph Axelrad said. “At no
point was I ever worried about them.”
The win also marked the last game for six Bruin seniors, who
were thrilled to close out their careers the way they did.
“It was picture perfect,” Axelrad said.
“It’s a dream come true. I can’t imagine a better
way to end my career.”
“I’m so happy for these seniors,” Krikorian
said. “These seniors are an unbelievable group. This was
about them and I wanted to win for them.”