IRVINE “”mdash; For one more weekend the UCLA men’s water polo team was stuck.
Stuck in its ranking. Stuck playing for third place. Stuck on the losing end of one-goal decisions.
The Bruins’ weekend at the SoCal Tournament began well. They posted impressive victories over Pacific and Pepperdine on Saturday, winning 15-10 and 11-6, respectively.
But Sunday’s games unfolded uncomfortably close to the recent script for UCLA.
Just like at the NorCal Tournament two weeks ago, No. 4 UCLA was defeated in the semifinals, this time losing to No. 1 USC, 7-6. Later in the afternoon UCLA lost again, 8-7, in a close third-place match against No. 2 California.
After the games, as they stood and watched the tournament championship game between USC and No. 3 Stanford unfold without them, the Bruins were disappointed by their frustrating inconsistency.
“We came in and we were ranked fourth, and we come out and we’re ranked fourth,” senior attacker Matt Jacobs said. “We thought we were going to improve, we hoped to improve, and we didn’t.”
Much of the blame for both losses can be placed on the Bruins’ poor play for stretches in the middle of the games.
Against USC, the Bruins came out from halftime tied with the Trojans at three, only to be outscored four to one in the third quarter. Against Cal, UCLA built a three to one lead after one quarter, then watched it disappear before half-time as the Golden Bears outscored the Bruins four to two in the second quarter.
“I think we had maybe two and a half bad quarters all weekend,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “Other than that, I’m not satisfied (with how we played) by any means but I’m at least pleased to some extent.”
The third quarter collapse against USC in particular was something of a familiar problem for the Bruins. In the third quarters of their only previous two losses this season, UCLA had been outscored six to two.
“I think we just get a little too relaxed,” Krikorian said. “You naturally come down a little bit during that five minutes (at halftime), and we need to emotionally get back up to where we are before the break.”
UCLA also struggled offensively at times against both the Trojans and the Bears. While the Bruins were fairly successful at converting six on five opportunities, they also had difficulty at times with executing in their front court offense.
“We had a lot of shots against USC that weren’t blocked, they just missed,” Jacobs said. “They weren’t blocked, they weren’t field blocked, they just missed the cage and that’s unacceptable. We have to put our shots on cage. They can’t go in if you don’t put them on cage.”
The Bruins’ weekend also wrapped up with a small amount of controversy. Cal scored its winning goal with 25 seconds to play on a six-on-five advantage. After a timeout, the Bruins worked the ball inside to their center before the ref whistled a questionable offensive turnover, ending whatever chance the Bruins might have had to tie the game.
“That’s water polo,” Jacobs said of the officiating. “If you really want to win, you keep it out of the hands of the refs. You score the ball or steal the ball before they get a chance to make a call. If you put it in the hands of the ref then it’s in the hands of the ref and you can’t help it.”
SATURDAY REMATCH: The Bruins will have a chance to avenge their 8-7 loss to Cal next week.
The two teams will meet at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, two hours before the UCLA and Cal football teams kick off at the Rose Bowl.
The loss Sunday marked the eighth consecutive defeat the Bruins have suffered against the Golden Bears. UCLA’s last win over Cal came in 2005 at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center.