Last year, the Bruins lost twice at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in record-setting fashion.
Falling to then-No. 1 Stanford by a record-high 10-point margin – after losing the first half 9-2 – marked a tough moment for the program. Former-coach Adam Wright said it was one of the toughest weekends he’s had coaching the team.
But this year was a different story for the Bruins, despite a similarly slow start.
“It was a great weekend overall for us,” said senior center Bia Mantellato. “We had three really good games that we put together some good quarters and some not great quarters. We worked together this weekend, and we had some great moments and a lot of things to learn from.”
At the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, No. 2 UCLA women’s water polo (9-1) beat No. 13 Fresno State (8-7) and No. 3 USC (11-2) by scores of 17-10 Friday and 10-9 Saturday, respectively, before falling 8-7 to No. 1 Stanford (6-0) in Sunday’s championship match. UCLA opened its last two matches with at least 3-1 deficits, but scored goals in the final half to bring the games within reach.
“They showed a lot of grit today. That Stanford team is loaded with Olympians, high level players, and to go down 5-1, they had a choice there where we could have rolled over, but we decided to stick to our game plan,” said interim co-head coach Jason Falitz. “We’re going to have our chance again down the line.”
Playing the Trojans for the second time this season – after a 12-9 win Feb. 1 – the Bruins were led by a six-goal performance from Mantellato.
Five of Mantellato’s goals came in the second half, when UCLA outscored USC 9-6 for the win.
“Her shot is really good. She plays with a confidence that I really admire and something I try to emulate in my game,” said redshirt senior attacker Emma Lineback. “She’s a great shooter for us.”
The Trojans’ pair of losses to the Bruins remain their only defeats thus far. Meanwhile, the Bruins had only faced the Cardinal in a January exhibition match loss.
UCLA’s offense slowed down in the first half of the championship match against Stanford, entering the second half down 6-3.
“There’s times where we’re trying to do too much in the beginning of the game, or maybe we’re coming out a little bit too aggressive and thinking that we have to win the game in the first two minutes, and it’s simply not the case, so just finding that balance,” Falitz said.
Unlike last year’s tournament, UCLA was able to pull back to a one-score contest, with a goal from Lineback to start the fourth quarter keeping the Bruins in the match.
The Bruins had multiple opportunities to score on set plays after timeouts, but missed shots.
“We practice those timeout plays, timeout situations, a lot, and we’re a team who prepares for almost any situation we can be in,” Lineback said. “We would have liked to execute a little bit better in some of those moments, but throughout the whole game we created opportunities, and if you miss, you miss.”
But the goalkeepers showed out to end the game, keeping both teams out of the back of the net. Junior Lauren Steele recorded 13 saves on the day, while Stanford’s Christine Carpenter kept out eight shots.
Falitz said having chances at the end of tight games allows the team to grow in confidence.
“We had two opportunities to tie the game late with time out plays,” Falitz said. “We got two, quite honestly, excellent looks in front of the ball, where maybe the situation could have been different, but the players that are taking those shots and that are in those moments are just going to be better for being in that position the next time it comes back around.”
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