Monday, November 17, 1997
Bruins suck up Anteater prospectsBy Arin Aboulian
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA men’s water polo team finished the conference season
strong with a convincing victory over the Anteaters of Irvine,
5-3.
The game began with No. 6 UC Irvine (8-13 overall, 2-5 MPSF)
taking the lead by a goal from Mike Allaire with 3:20 left in the
first quarter. The Bruins evened the score fourteen seconds later
with a shot from junior Matt Armato who picked up where he had left
off from the previous game.
Scoring ceased until 2:58 remained in the second quarter when
Dan Klatt gave the Anteaters their last lead of the game. The
Bruins were quick to respond with two goals by freshmen Dave Parker
and junior Eric Helfer.
The Bruins took the lead for good with the goals by Parker and
Helfer at the end of the first half and went on to add two more
goals in the third quarter by their scoring leaders freshmen Sean
Kern and Adam Wright.
In the fourth quarter, a combination of sloppy offense and
aggressive defense on both sides kept the scoreboard idle.
Defeating the Anteaters was an important win for the Bruins.
After being crushed in their last conference game against
Pepperdine and fighting back with two convincing victories
following the heartbreaking conference defeats against UC Berkeley
and Pepperdine, this win helped rebuild the confidence of a team
that has gone up and down all season.
Although the Bruins have lost key matches against their tougher
opponents (USC for example) their chances of winning the MPSF
championships are good. The Bruins still have one more match
against crosstown rivals USC. The Bruins trail the season series,
2-0, but nevertheless a win will be a great moral victory.
The game against USC will be the final testing grounds for the
Bruins as they head into the conference championships with two
national championships on the line.
But by putting together and consistently playing the balanced
offense and the strong aggressive defense they have shown flashes
of this season, their chances look good.