The Bruin water polo team split games this weekend in Northern
California, coming home with both a win and a loss.
Saturday marked the second disappointing outcome in the
conference season with a loss to No. 2 Cal, while reaffirming the
team’s third-place national ranking.
Sunday, on the other hand, proved to be more beneficial for
UCLA’s record (2-2 MPSF) with a win over Pacific.
Playing in Berkeley on Saturday, the Bruins faced a raucous
crowd at the Spieker Aquatics Complex, which was filled to capacity
with rowdy fans. Despite the potential distractions, UCLA overcame
a sluggish start and played a solid second half.
Quite typical of the Bruin team is its inability to begin strong
against tougher teams. This characteristic was pronounced in
Saturday’s game as UCLA went into halftime with a two-point
deficit and did not respond with a goal until after the Bears
widened the gap to three.
Attempting a comeback against tougher teams has been a bit of a
pattern for the UCLA men’s water polo this season. Down by
three goals at one point against USC, the Bruins rallied to double
overtime, losing in the final, sudden-death period.
On Saturday, the Bruins found themselves in a similar situation
against the Bears, trailing by three goals early in the third
quarter. By the start of the fourth quarter the Bruins were tied
with the Bears, 7-7, only to miss every shot taken in the final
quarter of play. Where they put four goals on the board in the
third quarter of play, they went scoreless in the final period.
While the Bruins failed to execute offensively, the Bears had
just enough left to claim the 8-7 victory, with the final goal of
the game coming from John Mann with a little over six minutes
remaining.
Sunday was a different story, as the Bruins travelled to
Stockton to face the eighth-ranked Pacific Tigers. The Bruins took
control of the game, outscoring the Tigers 8-3 in the first half
and coming out with an 11-6 victory.
Leading scorers on the weekend for the Bruins were juniors Marco
Santos and Justin Johnson, each with three goals. Santos scored all
of his on Sunday against the Tigers; and Johnson split his with one
against Cal and two against Pacific.
In goal, redshirt freshman Chay Lapin tallied 13 saves on the
weekend, seven on Saturday and six on Sunday.
The Bruins’ conference record is now 2-2, and they are
11-5 overall on the season.