The No. 2 UCLA women’s water polo team continues to be the utmost threat in the realm of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation at just the right time as the championship tournament quickly approaches.
Senior Kelly Rulon has once again made Bruin water polo history, breaking the record of goals scored in a single game shared by her sister, sophomore Katie Rulon, freshman Melissa Mordell, junior Gabrielle Domanic and herself. Rulon scored six goals against Loyola Marymount, bringing Rulon’s career total to 219, just 16 goals shy of tying the school record held by current UCLA assistant coach Coralie Simmons.
After this game, Kelly Rulon moves up on the MPSF list of top scorers from fourth to third with a goals-per-game average of 2.6. Above her are University of Hawai’i sophomore Kelly Mason with an average of 2.63 goals per game and University of Pacific freshman Sarah Harris with an average of 3.55. Both are averages that Rulon has an opportunity to overcome in the upcoming weeks.
With the help of their outstanding senior scorer in Kelly Rulon, the Bruins continued to play like the two-time national champions they are, once again dominating their opponents.
This weekend, the Bruins shattered the nine-game winning streak of the No. 10 Lions of Loyola Marymount University, handling them 17-3. UCLA came out strong as usual in the first half, scoring 11 goals and holding LMU to just one. Following their usual trend, the Bruins held back in the third quarter, slowing their offensive game and scoring just one goal while allowing the LMU offense to score two goals on the Bruin defense. Those last two goals would be the last time the Lions would get past the Bruin defense, as the fourth quarter saw five more goals for UCLA and none for LMU.
Besides senior Kelly Rulon and her six goals, top scorers of the game were junior Gabrielle Domanic and senior Molly Cahill with three goals apiece, and Tanya Gandy with two goals. Senior goalkeeper Emily Feher had seven saves, bringing her total for the 2007 season to 97. Currently she has the second highest MPSF saves-per-game average of 7.58 saves and is overall the fourth-ranked goalkeeper in the MPSF rankings.
With Saturday’s win, the Bruins extended their record to 19-1 (their only loss is to No. 1 Stanford on Feb. 25 in Palo Alto) and continue their two-year winning streak at home at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. UCLA still leads the MPSF with 292 goals logged this season and 131 saves.
The Bruins also shut out non-ranked Cal State Bakersfield on March 24, dominating the Roadrunners 25-0. They held Bakersfield to only 10 shots with a near-perfect defense.
Next Saturday, UCLA hosts the No. 3 USC Women of Troy at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. The game will provide the competition-starved UCLA team with the opportunity to test their skills in a rematch of the 2006 national championship game in which UCLA came out on top.