Bruins keep Gauchos at bay

On Saturday the UCLA men’s water polo team hosted a UC Santa Barbara team that had made a recent habit of hanging tough against higher-rated competition.

The No. 3 Bruins made sure the No. 7 Gauchos’ streak didn’t continue.

UCLA (18-5, 4-2 MPSF) didn’t take UC Santa Barbara (17-11, 2-4) lightly, jumping out to an early lead and cruising to a 14-6 victory on the strength of scoring by seven players, including a career-high four goals from freshman Ben Hohl.

After the game, Hohl credited the Bruins’ mind-set for not letting them underestimate the Gauchos.

“We thought it was going to be a tough game when we came into it,” Hohl said. “We prepared all week in practice … for their style of play, and we just came out and executed everything we needed to do.”

Overall the Bruins turned in an impressive defensive performance in front of redshirt sophomore goalie Chay Lapin, who finished with eight saves. But with only two regular season games left before the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament, coach Adam Krikorian still isn’t quite satisfied with his team’s defensive play.

“Some things were good, but I think overall we need to be a little sharper,” he said. “A little quicker, a little better awareness, a little better job of communicating. We had a few breakdowns that Santa Barbara exposed.

“At this point maybe I’m being picky, but … coming down to the end of the season, if you’re going to win a championship, you’ve got to play great defense. So our effort has to be a little bit better than it was today.”

On offense, the Bruins faced a slightly unusual look against the Gauchos, who frequently dropped defenders back from the perimeter. While that made life more difficult for the Bruins’ centers, it left outside players like Hohl with more shooting opportunities from the top.

“We needed to open up our shooters … (to) spread the zones a little more, instead of playing against a strong press like a lot of other teams (run),” Hohl said.

Hohl’s strong play throughout this year has been a major plus for the Bruins. While Krikorian doesn’t generally play many true freshman, Hohl, a left-hander, has made an immediate impact and is currently fifth on the team with 23 goals so far this season. But what might be more important to Krikorian is how much Hohl has improved defensively.

Hohl has “gotten a lot better, as has everyone,” Krikorian said. “Obviously he scored goals today, but the thing that goes unnoticed that I’m probably more proud of is the way he played defensively. He had a couple of really big steals, and did a good job of moving quickly in our defense. He has a much better understanding of our defense and how we want to do things than he did when he first came in.”

The Bruins wrap up their regular season next weekend with a home game against No. 6 Pepperdine on Saturday and a road game Sunday against Long Beach State, which is tied in the MPSF Coaches Poll with UC Santa Barbara at No. 7.

The Bruins are currently riding a four-game winning streak, and will look to ride that momentum to a strong showing in the MPSF Tournament the following weekend.

“I think we’re playing really well,” Hohl said. “We started the season out a little rocky, but now everything’s clicking right when it needs to. We’re going into the conference tournament in two weeks, and I think we’ll do really well.”

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