LOS ALAMITOS “”mdash; A sense of déjà vu hit the UCLA
women’s water polo team Saturday.
With seven of the 14 members of the women’s U.S. National
Team comprised of Bruin alumnae, coach Adam Krikorian and this
year’s UCLA squad were up against a number of familiar
faces.
The current Bruins put up a valiant second-half effort, but
could not duplicate their one-goal victory from a year ago, falling
11-5 to Team USA on Saturday.
“It was a flashback to the UCLA practices,” said
current Bruin and national player Natalie Golda. “It was like
playing against my former team, but at the same time it was kind of
weird playing against people on my team that I’ve never
played with before.”
For the Bruins, gauging their performance on the final score was
of no importance. Instead, the match was a means of getting ready
for the upcoming MPSF tournament, as well as helping the Olympic
team prepare for its ultimate quest to bring home the gold for the
United States.
“We wanted to make sure that we compete for 28 minutes,
and no matter what the score was, we wanted to make it tough for
them,” said Krikorian. “They’re training for the
Olympics, and it’s critical for our sport. We owe it to them
to try to compete, and I know they really respect teams that
don’t just roll over.”
Playing against the national team also allowed the UCLA squad,
especially the freshmen, to gain experience that hopefully will aid
them in their pursuit to repeat as NCAA champions.
“The game was at a totally different speed,”
freshman Emily Feher said. “I had to be on my toes all game
long. I thought we really held our own, and we realized that when
we trusted our defense, it really worked for us and turned the game
around.”
A first-half 6-0 surge by the national team left UCLA stunned.
Golda, Thalia Munro and Gabrielle Domanic, each would-be Bruins who
are taking the year off to train for the Olympics, contributed one
goal apiece for the U.S. team.
But what may have seemed like a runaway quickly reversed itself,
when the Bruins made a statement in the third period by shutting
down Team USA’s potent offense.
“We started to feel a little more confident playing
them,” Krikorian said. “We came out a little soft and
tentative defensively in the first quarter. But I was pleased with
the way we played from the second quarter and on.”
The Bruins would finally get on the board at the end of the
third period, when freshman Molly Cahill netted the first of her
two goals on a 6-on-5 penalty situation. Assisted by freshman Jenna
Murphy, Cahill was able to rocket a shot past former Bruin and
Olympic silver medalist Nicolle Payne just as clock ran out.
“We were nervous playing the national team, but we
loosened up in the second half,” Cahill said. “Once we
got over the initial shock of playing the national team, we had
more confidence shooting the ball.”
The final period was a shootout, with nine different shots
finding the back of the net. Sophomore driver Katherine Belden was
productive on the offensive end, scoring both of her goals in the
final period.
However, it was a steady diet of former Bruin Robin Beauregard
and former San Diego standout Heather Moody that prevented the
Bruins from ever making the match a competitive game.