UCLA 14 UCSB 2
By Colin Yuhl
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s water polo team hadn’t played in
two weeks, but there certainly wasn’t any evidence of rust as
the No. 1 Bruins (18-3, 10-1 MPSF) finished the regular season with
a 14-2 laugher against No. 12 UC Santa Barbara.
With the ultra-important MPSF tournament looming less than a
week away, the Bruins needed to keep up their momentum.
Consider that emphatically accomplished. The squad has won nine
games in a row and is playing the kind of tenacious defense that
head coach Adam Krikorian wants going into the tournament.
“We prepared for this game like it was the first game of
the conference tournament,” he said. “We wanted to make
sure that we came out and played our game, and I think we did that
today.”
Indeed, the Bruins locked up the Gauchos defensively, and scored
almost at will throughout the game. The score was 14-0 until, with
35 seconds left in the match, UCSB notched two goals to end the
shutout.
“They didn’t play bad, we just played great,”
Krikorian said.
The team now hopes that its excellent play down the stretch of
the regular season will continue in the postseason. If UCLA hopes
to guarantee the privilege of defending its NCAA title, it must win
the MPSF tournament. Otherwise, the Bruins place themselves in
jeopardy of being left out of the NCAA tournament.
“It’s important that we show our intensity
now,” junior attacker Maureen Flanagan said.
“We’ve been practicing really hard and I think
everybody is just pumped up for the tournament.”
The MPSF tournament will be held at USC, beginning on Friday and
continuing through the weekend.