It was a busy weekend for the No. 1 UCLA women’s water polo team, playing three road games in three days.
For a lesser team, opening up Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference play with three consecutive road games at Irvine, Northridge and Long Beach would prove to be an intimidating task. However, the Bruins (13-0, 3-0 MPSF) handled it with ease.
The Bruins began the weekend Friday afternoon in Irvine against the No. 10 Anteaters (4-3, 0-2). UCLA dominated from start to finish on the way to a commanding 13-3 win. Senior defender Jillian Kraus got the Bruins off to an excellent start, scoring a goal 86 seconds into the match on the way to a three-goal performance. Fellow seniors Kamaile Crowell and Courtney Mathewson also scored three goals.
Saturday’s game against No. 16 Cal State Northridge (3-4, 0-1) was a little more of a test for UCLA, but the Bruins were able to hold off the Matadors in the second half, turning a 4-3 advantage at halftime into a 10-5 win. Junior Katie Rulon continued her strong start to the season, totaling a team-high three goals in the contest.
Despite the two wins, coach Adam Krikorian was disappointed with the first two performances of the weekend.
“I thought that in our first two games of the weekend, Irvine and Northridge, we didn’t play all that well,” Krikorian said. “I know we held Irvine to three goals, but I felt like there were a lot of opportunities offensively that they just didn’t execute. We played sloppily on Friday and Saturday, and I’m not happy with our performance.”
The final game of the weekend on Sunday against No. 14 Long Beach State was much more to Krikorian’s liking. The Bruins started fast, outscoring the 49ers 16-2 over the first three quarters, before cruising to a 19-7 win. Like the past two matchups of the weekend, the Bruins had no issues defensively, keeping Long Beach State’s scoring opportunities limited.
“We rebounded back against Long Beach State, which was good to see,” Krikorian said.
Individual Bruins also had stand-out performances this weekend. Kraus totaled a team high of nine goals. Freshman attacker Priscilla Orozco finished the weekend with three goals, including two in the match against Long Beach State.
“Priscilla Orozco was really on top of the ball offensively and defensively,” Krikorian said.
But the one player in particular who stood out to Krikorian was Crowell, who notched four goals in the three games over the weekend.
“One team member that doesn’t get a lot of attention is Kamaile Crowell,” Krikorian said. “I’m really happy to see someone like her who’s really playing such a role on the team, and even though she’s not getting the attention her fellow seniors do, she played really well this weekend.”
NEXT UP: The Bruins return to action next weekend in the UC Irvine Invitational. The Bruins play Cal State Northridge on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Corona del Mar High school.