The fight was intense. The match went to overtime. But No. 2
UCLA could not hold on, losing to No. 1 Stanford 11-10 at the Rose
Bowl Aquatic Center Saturday.
“I have no clue what happened,” Bruin sophomore
driver Brett Ormsby said. “We should’ve won that game,
but we gave them a couple of goals that deflated us.”
The match was close throughout. The Bruins (9-6, 1-3 Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation) opened the game with a quick score. But
they needed more.
Instead, a defensive struggle began. Stanford (17-2, 4-1) tied
it immediately, followed by another UCLA goal to end the quarter.
Both teams missed shot opportunities, due to great goalkeeping by
both teams.
“We had our opportunities and a lot of (Bruin players) had
big games, but without a win this didn’t matter,”
Ormsby said.
Stanford tied the game in the second quarter, and after terrific
defensive performances from all players, Bruin senior Dan Yielding
scored to end the half up 3-2.
“I played well, but it takes the whole team to play well
in order to win,” he said. “We gave it away.”
In the second half, the defenses were stronger than ever, but
balls began to finally fall in the goals. Stanford tied and then
scored again to take the lead. It was back and forth for the rest
of the quarter. UCLA tied it, then the Cardinal went up again,
until in the final minute of the third, the Bruins scored two,
finishing up 6-5.
“There are no highlights from this game,” UCLA Head
Coach Adam Krikorian said. “We were up every time, but we got
tentative and played terrible in the last two minutes.”
Up two goals with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, the
victory seemed inevitable for UCLA. But the Cardinal and the
nation’s best player woke up.
Last week Tony Azevedo was shut out for the first time in his
college career. But in a span of one minute he scored two goals and
recorded an assist to take the lead 9-8.
“We’re not satisfied at all,” Krikorian said.
“Games are 28 minutes long, not 26.”
The Bruins tied it on a last minute goal to send it to overtime.
But Stanford quickly went up 11-9 on Tony Azevedo’s third
goal ““ a penalty shot.
UCLA managed a goal but it was not enough to win. The Bruins
feel they owned the match, while the box score says otherwise.
“It was not a straight out Stanford beating,”
Stanford Head Coach John Vargas said. “It’s a big win
for us. We played the entire game and it was a great
effort.”
The Bruins are on the losing end of the conference, a place they
cannot afford to be.
“I know we’re still the best team,” Ormsby
said. “We just need to figure this out. Most likely,
we’ll need to win the MPSF conference tournament.”