This is not just another UCLA v. USC matchup comparable to those that take place in the Rose Bowl or Pauley Pavilion.
When the rival women’s water polo teams face off Saturday, it will be a rematch of the nail-biting 2006 NCAA Championships.
After the Bruins (19-1, 8-0 MPSF) so narrowly edged out the Trojans (14-3, 7-1) for the school’s 99th NCAA trophy, the Women of Troy will be out for retribution.
It was then-sophomore Courtney Mathewson’s final-second goal that put the Bruins ahead 9-8 and gave them their second consecutive national championship, little less than a year ago on May 14 in Davis, Calif.
“That shot will go down in UCLA water polo history forever,” coach Adam Krikorian said after the game.
The Trojans were favored to win it all, especially coming off a 26-game winning streak. Another favorite, Stanford, fell to the Bruins in the semi-final game, providing an opportunity for the third-seeded Bruins to slide into the finals.
After two losses to USC during the regular 2006 season, UCLA used its knowledge of the Trojans’ game and superior conditioning to overcome USC first in the MPSF conference tournament, and then ultimately and most notably in the NCAA championship game.
“The desire and fight we had was amazing, even when no one expected us to win like last year,” senior goalkeeper Emily Feher said after winning the title.
It was the same situation earlier in the season in the finals of the Stanford Invitational tournament in the beginning of February, as a late Bruin offensive attack pushed UCLA ahead to defeat USC 11-10.
“It’s exiting,” Krikorian said. “We enjoy playing at home and hopefully we’ll get a great crowd on Saturday. I think this game will be a great thing for us, just to experience a big game like this with that type of intensity right before we go into conference championships and the NCAA.”
Besides being a match of rivals, the upcoming water polo game puts two very high-ranked teams in the same pool just two weeks before the MPSF conference tournament. With UCLA ranked No. 2 (just underneath No. 1 Stanford) and USC ranked No. 3, Saturday’s game has more at stake than city-wide bragging rights.
In the record of the NCAA rivalry, (which has been ongoing since women’s water polo became an NCAA sport in 2001), UCLA has gone 28-12 against USC.
USC, however, has the top goalie in the MPSF, freshman Tumua Anae, who has an average goals against of 3.10, at least two full goals less than the No. 2 goal keeper.
March was a month of little competition for both teams, especially UCLA, who has been on a nine-game winning streak since its only loss this season to Stanford in the Irvine Tournament on Feb. 25.
“I think that we haven’t had a really good competition since we played Stanford at the Irvine Tournament,” redshirt senior Kelly Rulon said. “I’d like us to be able to really compete against ‘SC and to not hold anything back, just attack right from the start.”
For USC there is the added factor of players returning from the very recent world championships. While the Trojans get the returning players, there is always the question of how it will affect the team’s dynamics.
“Both teams haven’t had any tough games since February. Fortunately, we’ve had our whole team intact over that time,” Krikorian said. “(USC) had three girls playing on the world championship team that just won a gold medal last weekend. They’re going to be in good game shape, but they haven’t played with their team for a while, so that could affect USC.”
The Bruins are looking forward to the home-field advantage for the rivalry game. But they will be dealing with the added pressure of maintaining their impeccable home winning streak.
“It’s always better to play at home, but there’s an underlying pressure not to lose because you are at home,” Rulon said. “I don’t think we’ve lost at home since my freshman year. When it comes down to it though, in the end we just want to win.”
LEXIS GAUNTLET CUP POINTS AT STAKE: The winner of Saturday’s game will receive 2.5 points in the UCLA-USC Lexus Gauntlet competition. Currently UCLA is ahead of USC in the overall race 50-22.5. The last time UCLA captured the gauntlet was 2005.