Revenge.
The UCLA men’s water polo team has only lost two matches
all year ““ and one of them was to California, whom the Bruins
will hope to get revenge against on Saturday in Berkeley.
“We want to win pretty badly,” UCLA coach Adam
Krikorian said. “We want to get that bitter taste out of our
mouths. We didn’t play as well as we could have. We were
frustrated after losing to Stanford (earlier that day).”
The 10-9 loss to Cal back on Sept. 19 was UCLA’s last
defeat, and that loss was also the second that the team suffered on
its final day of the SoCal Tournament.
Since then, UCLA (12-2) has won the NorCal Tournament, avenged
its other loss of the season to Stanford, and moved up to a No. 1
ranking thanks to a seven-match winning streak.
“It’s a must-win game,” junior center defender
Michael March said. “If we lose to Cal, you can throw our
NorCal Tournament title away.”
The last time the Bruins played No. 4 Cal (10-4), UCLA was
fatigued and frustrated after losing to Stanford a couple of hours
earlier. But according to Krikorian, several of the players on the
team have improved significantly since then.
“We didn’t give a consistent effort for 28
minutes,” Krikorian said. “Last time, we were all over
the place. We had moments of good water polo and moments of ugly
water polo.”
The team’s big goals for the season have been reinforced
with its recent play.
And it’s that play that has warranted a common theme that
has enabled the Bruins to expect a positive conclusion to the
regular season.
“Our confidence has been a big factor lately,” March
said. “Everyone’s just been playing more aggressively
lately. We’re finally starting to click.”
Sunday, the Bruins play two matches in Stockton, Calif., the
first against Pacific and the second against non-conference
opponent UC Davis.
But those two matches are far from what has earned the
team’s attention this week. UCLA is squarely focused on its
match with Cal.
“Not to knock Pacific or UC Davis, but we’re
talented enough where we should be able to beat them,”
Krikorian said.
“We’re putting all of our effort into Cal for 28
minutes.”
History verifies Krikorian’s reasoning ““ UCLA is
23-3 all-time against Pacific and 10-0 against UC Davis.
On the other end of the pool, UCLA holds a narrow 53-45 edge
over Cal in its series matchup.