Monday, October 6, 1997
Bruins suffer new ending
to Trojan War in Friday’s loss
WATER POLO: UCLA experiences worst defeat of season against
USC
By Arin Aboulian
Daily Bruin Contributor
Friday was hyped up to be the Trojan War revisited for the UCLA
men’s water polo team.
After a crushing 8-7 defeat to UCLA in the NCAA championships
last year, USC had the date of its next meeting circled on its
calendars. A win would give UCLA a commanding lead in the
conference, while a loss would drop them out of first place.
Unfortunately, the Bruins had no special tricks up their
sleeves, as they experienced their worst defeat of the season to
the highly ranked crosstown rivals, 12-7.
The No. 6 Bruins and the No. 3 Trojans clashed at the Sunset
Recreation Center pool, but what was anticipated to be a great
matchup between the finalists from last season, turned into a rout
by the Trojans.
Coming into the match, the Bruins (6-3, 2-1) were on top of the
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with convincing victories over
UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State, and were looking to tighten
their hold on the conference title. While the Trojans (7-2, 1-1),
after a loss to UC Berkeley, were looking to even out their record
in the conference.
With the crowds piling into the Sunset Recreation Center and
with standing room only around the pool, both teams were ready for
a showdown, with the conference title and city bragging rights at
stake.
Right from the start, the Bruins looked like they wanted to take
charge of the game, and for a few minutes, it seemed that they were
controlling the tempo, but after Brett Stern’s goal with 5:30 left
in the quarter, things turned around.
Aggressive defense led to continuous ejections by the referees
and the Trojans capitalized on every man-up opportunity given.
Led by Croatian junior Mark Pintaric, the Trojans went on a
six-goal run from the middle of the first quarter to almost the end
of the second quarter. Pintaric scored the first goal, followed by
a goal from Sean Hylton, a two-point goal from Pintaric, who also
scored the Trojans fifth goal. Simun Cimmerman, Pintaric’s teammate
from the University of Zagreb, netted the Trojan’s sixth goal.
By the time they were done, the Trojans had a commanding lead of
the game and were preparing for a victory dance.
"Our man-down defense in the first half was horrible," said head
coach Guy Baker. "They scored almost every time."
In the second half, the two teams exchanged a few goals. Every
time the Bruins tried to put something together, either an ejection
or a Trojan counter-attack would result in a goal, keeping the
Trojans a safe distance away.
At the beginning of the third quarter, two consecutive goals
from Brian Bent and Brett Stern, made the score 7-4, but that was
as close as the Bruins got to the Trojans.
During the third quarter, the Bruins missed shot after shot on
goal. Missed opportunities hurt a struggling Bruin offense that was
playing catch up almost from the start.
Despite a great effort from the Bruin goalie, Parsa Benderson,
who had 6 saves in the third quarter, the Bruin offense was
unsuccessful at capitalizing, and the quarter ended with the
Trojans maintaining their lead.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Bruins seemed like
they were on a comeback trail again, with consecutive steals which
led to fast breaks, but the offense was not able to capitalize on
their opportunities.
By the end of the game, the Trojans had a commanding lead and
were swimming towards victory.
The Bruins’ problems at the offensive end brewed from a very
powerful Trojan defense and lack of execution on offense.
Volunteer assistant coach Gary O’Brien said about the loss, "We
were ready physically and mentally, but we just did not execute
well enough, especially in the first quarter."
With this loss, the Bruins have dropped to 2-1 in the
conference. The Bruins have five more conference games against
powerful opponents such as Berkeley and Pepperdine, which leaves
the conference race up in the air.
The Bruins’ next game is on Friday against the UC Irvine
Anteaters.