The Bruins remain atop the NCAA and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo polls after winning two crucial contests this weekend at home against the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal and the No. 8 San Jose State Spartans.
Despite the twin victories, the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center saw two very different games played out in its pool.
Saturday brought with it a sea of Cardinal fans and an atmosphere filled with anxiety and anticipation.
For the first time since the beginning of February, the No. 1 Bruins faced a team that could pose a legitimate threat to their dominance over the conference.
The two top teams in the MPSF battled through four quarters, with the Bruins holding on to at least a one-point lead throughout. The game play was sloppy at times, with plenty of turnovers.
“We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be in terms of our passing,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “I felt like it wasn’t so much the turnovers (when we) forced the ball into the center ““ you can live with those as a coach ““ it’s the ones that are on the perimeter that are just bad passes. On our 6-on-5, our power play, those are the ones that kind of hurt.”
The Cardinal defense seemed well-prepared for the Bruins. The final quarter ended with a score of 9-7 in favor of UCLA, a relatively low margin for the Bruins.
“They’re always a tough team to score on because they do such a good job defensively,” Krikorian said. “Nine goals isn’t really our average, but we were playing against a really good team.
“Nine goals isn’t bad; I’ll take nine goals any time we play them.”
The Bruins had a hard time shaking the nerves of Saturday’s game on Sunday when the game against the Spartans began.
“We were really excited for yesterday’s game, and I think we let that take over our minds too much,” junior goalkeeper Brittany Fullen said. “We’ve been preparing all week for the Stanford game, and we didn’t think a lot about San Jose until last night.”
The Bruins had an unusually hard time in the first quarter, unable to score until the final minutes, failing to penetrate the Spartans’ defense and missing shots. However, UCLA was able to overcome the start to defeat San Jose State, 15-5.
“I think we were just a little sluggish, it could have something to do with our game (Saturday).” Krikorian said. “But we did do a really nice job of realizing that we were playing at a low level energy-wise in the first quarter, and (we) came back and stepped it up a notch.
“The girls turned it on, and that’s the way we should play all the time.”
UCLA’s defense remained a constant presence despite the two very distinct games this weekend.
Though both victories were undoubtedly team efforts, the bench played a tremendous role this weekend, with a standout performance from an under-recognized Bruin, junior attacker Anne Belden.
Belden demonstrated her versatility by racking up five assists on Saturday afternoon and scoring two goals of her own on Sunday.
“My teammates get open easily; they make it really easy for me to find them and pass the ball,” Belden said. “I really like getting the ball to them ““ they’re great shooters.”