With a minute left to play in the semifinal of UC Santa Barbara’s SoCal Tournament three weeks ago, the UCLA men’s water polo team found itself in an unexpected situation: behind.
In a hostile environment on the road against an aggressive team, the Bruins were within one goal of knotting things up.
They had a single offensive possession remaining to convert.
UCLA (17-2, 1-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) was unable to complete the improbable comeback, eventually leaving the tournament’s winner’s bracket with an 11-10 loss to ponder.
Another trip up to UCSB’s Recreation Center Aquatics Complex Saturday presents the team with an opportunity to redeem itself for what was its only true letdown in the season’s first 19 games.
“Santa Barbara wanted it more than us last time; that’s the bottom line,” said senior goalkeeper Matt Rapacz.
“This time, we have to go out there and focus on our game and we’ve got to be mentally prepared.”
While the team attempts to gain their second straight MPSF victory on the road, No. 3 UCSB (14-4, 0-1 MPSF) will look to find answers after suffering a obering defeat at the hands of No. 4 Stanford in its conference opener last weekend.
Saturday’s rematch will have major implications in the seeding of the MPSF Championships, now just more than a month away, as well as in the NCAA’s weekly rankings.
Consequently, the Bruins have been stressing the importance of coming out of the gate strong against a hungry opponent.
“Going up there, we’re going to have our hands full,” said coach Adam Wright.
“We’ve already been up there once this year and we didn’t play the way we were supposed to, but Santa Barbara is an excellent team. They’re coming off a disappointing loss, so they’re going to be ready and we better be ready too, otherwise it’s going to be a long day up there,” Wright said.
Following Saturday’s game, UCLA will venture back to Westwood to take on No. 11 UC San Diego at home on Sunday.
The non-conference showdown with the Tritons will come exactly a month after the Bruins’ last match at home.
“It’s good to be home again,” said junior defender Chris Wendt. “We’ve had a lot of away games this year, so it’ll be a great environment and we’re looking forward to it.”
Email Erickson at aerickson@media.ucla.edu.