Friday, November 21, 1997
Only pride at stake in face-off before the football game
PREVIEW: Only pride at stake in face-off before the football
game
By Arin Aboulian
Daily Bruin Contributor
As everyone has probably seen already, the Bear outside of
Ackerman has been covered with the neon blue blanket that it wears
during Beat ‘SC Week. For some of the freshmen that do not know,
that is to protect it from some of the mishaps which have occurred
before.
That only means one thing: UCLA will be facing USC on Saturday
at the football game. But what is usually forgotten by many is the
UCLA-USC men’s water polo game that takes place before the big
football game.
This year, the same schedule will follow, and many fans will
walk by and take a peek into the McDonald’s Swim Stadium on the USC
campus, as they make their way toward the Coliseum.
The game, which has had the same time slot for years, will not
mean anything for the teams statistically, but there will be a lot
of pride at stake.
Both teams have finished their conference seasons and are
looking to enter the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF)
conference tournament with a strong finish. In order to ensure a
bid to the NCAA championships, both teams need to win the MPSF
conference and are looking at this match as a warm-up and a preview
of what is to come in the conference championships.
The two teams have already met two times this season, and the
Trojans are looking to complete a season sweep of the Bruins for
the first time.
Assistant coach Adam Krikorian said, "We’re looking to come out
and play our game.
"The players came into this week really focused at the task at
hand and that was improving various aspects of our game."
The Bruins will be working on man-down defense and more
aggressive offensive sets.
Krikorian added, "The team is only working on certain things.
We’re not thinking too much about MPSF. Win or lose, we want a good
game, but the players are very excited about playing ‘SC."
Coming off of victories against UCI and Air Force, the Bruin
offense struggled in the game against UC Irvine, in a game where
defenses of both teams prevailed.
Although this game does not have any MPSF implications, the
players from both teams are excited because of the city
rivalry.
These two teams are by far the two teams in the conference with
the most history behind them, and with UCLA leading the series
53-43-1, this game is the only college rivalry existent in water
polo.
Because of rivalry, the revenge factor will be another
motivation for this game, as there is not much left at stake for
this season.
In addition to pride, the Bruins are also looking for revenge of
a blowout loss they suffered at home at the hands of the
Trojans.
In by far the most embarrassing outing of the season for a proud
Bruin team, they were out-manned, out-hustled and out-scored 12-7
on Oct. 12.
The Bruins will head into this match led by seniors Brett Stern
and Steve Covec as they face the crosstown rivals one last time
this season.
The Bruins are led by the scoring prowess of freshmen Sean Kern
and Adam Wright, with 33 and 27 points, respectively. Following
closely in points are junior Sam Armato and Sam Grayeli, who have
25 and 23 goals, respectively, and who also have 18 and 19 steals,
respectively.
The seniors lead the passing and distribution of the ball with
10 assists each along with Adam Wright.
Overall, the Bruins head into their last game of the season
against the Trojans with not much at stake except pride, and with
MPSF conference games looming next weekend, a boost of confidence
with a victory here might just be what the doctor ordered for the
two-time defending national champion Bruins.