Monday, October 27, 1997
Weekend results in one win, one loss
Key mistakes, lax defense force Bruins to fall to Cal; Pacific
crushed by Bruin offense
By Arin Aboulian
Daily Bruin Contributor
Two games in two days, and the conference championship hopes all
rested in this weekend’s games against UC Berkeley and the
University of Pacific.
The men’s water polo team (10-7 overall, 3-2 Mountain Pacific
Sports Federation) needed to win in order to keep them in the
running for the conference championship. The wins would have
secured them an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.
But it did not begin as the Bruins’ weekend with a loss to the
No. 4 Bears (15-4 overall, 6-1 MPSF) Saturday at the Rose Bowl
Aquatic Center.
Despite the loss, the Bruins recovered to crush the No. 8 Tigers
(5-8, 1-4 MPSF) Sunday at the Sunset Canyon Recreational Pool.
In the game against Cal, the Bruins’ aggressive defense led UC
Berkeley 4-1 at half time. Led by freshmen Adam Wright, the Bruins
capitalized on Cal’s mistakes with a strong defense and a quick
counter-attack, taking the early lead.
"We came out to a real good start. Jumped at them really fast,"
Wright said.
But what seemed to be the Bruins’ game until the end of the
first half turned into the Bear’s game in the second.
In the second half, the Bruins struggled through a painful third
quarter, possibly their season-worst third quarter performance. It
cost UCLA the game.
"We came out flat, and we handed them the game. I think Cal and
Pepperdine are the best teams in the nation, and if given the
opportunity they will take advantage," said head coach Guy
Baker.
The Bears entered a pressing defense at the start of the
quarter, forcing the disoriented Bruin offense to turn over the
ball to Cal repeatedly.
"At the beginning of the third quarter, we just let down
mentally," said goalie Parsa Bonderson who made seven key
saves.
The confused defense resulted in two Bruin ejections.
Capitalizing on the man-up situations, the Bears scored three goals
in less than three minutes to tie the game at 4-4.
The Bruins’ inconsistency continued as the Bears improved to a
5-4 lead towards the end of third quarter.
After a time-out, the Bruins regrouped to regain the lead 6-5 by
goals scored by seniors Brett Stern and Steve Covec at the end of
third quarter.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Bruins scored again
to take a two-point lead, but Cal senior Brent Albright’s two-point
shot evened the score.
Before overtime, each team traded goals after that point,
including an acrobatic shot by Wright.
In the first overtime period, the Bruins made a key mistake
which forcing them to foul, which resulted in a 4-meter shot. Cal
capitalized on the situation, taking the lead for good. Neither
team found the net after that.
Baker said, "We put ourselves in that position. We should have
never put ourselves in a position to have a 4-meter penalty
called."
Lack of consistent offense and failure to capitalize on man-up
situations hurt the Bruins in this game, as in all of their
previous season losses.
Before the game against Pacific, the enthusiastic Bruins seemed
to have recovered from their previous nail-biting loss.
"They were down because they felt they had given the game away,
but they are looking good today," said assistant coach Gary
O’Brien.
After a slow start and early ejections, the Bruins were still up
4-1 at the end of the first half.
Pacific made a valiant effort to challenge UCLA in the second
half, inching up to 4-3, but the Bruins went on 6-0 scoring spree,
easily winning the game.
Led by juniors Sam Grayeli and Matt Armato, the Bruins
capitalized on Pacific’s jumbled defense in the second half.
Together with freshman Sean Kern, each scored three points.
In the man-down defense, the Bruins allowed only one goal in 10
man-down situations, and that only when the game was out of reach
for the Tigers.
Overall, it was a bitter-sweet weekend for the Bruins with a
disappointing loss against Cal and the victory over Pacific.
JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
Bruin Matt Armato passes the ball during Saturday’s water polo
match against Cal.