Monday, November 24, 1997
UCLA falls just short of win as clock runs out for Bruins
M. WATER POLO:
Trojans turn up heat, take lead in fourth quarter of nailbiterBy
Arin Aboulian
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA men’s water polo team entered this weekend looking to
improve their game and prepare for the Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation (MPSF) tournament coming up next weekend. The Bruins
faced cross-town rivals USC in a closely fought match, but came up
short as time expired, preventing UCLA from tying the game.
In a game that was mostly dominated by long shots from the
two-point range, both teams started quickly. Both teams scored
early and often in the first half, with the half ending with a 8-7
lead for UCLA.
There were several lead changes in this game, but the game went
down to the wire, with the Trojans pulling it out with a score of
11-10.
The game began with both teams trying to establish themselves in
the game offensively. USC got on the board first with a goal with
5:49 left in the first quarter, immediately following a missed
4-meter shot by UCLA from junior Marko Pintaric. Although Pintaric
had been able to run wild in the previous meeting, the Bruins were
able to keep him contained and he did not score another goal for
the rest of the game.
Following Pintaric’s goal, the Bruins went back on the offensive
and a two-point goal by junior Matt Armato, continuing his
late-season offensive surge on opposing teams, gave the Bruins the
lead.
Following the goal by Armato, with the Trojans on the attack,
freshman Dave Parker was ejected for a foul, and USC capitalized on
its man-up advantage scoring a 2-point goal by Simun Cimmerman, the
other Croatian player on Southern Cal other than Pintaric.
With 2:05 remaining in the first quarter, the Trojans scored
again on a shot by Sean Hylton, giving the Trojans their largest
lead of the game by a score of 4-2.
Concluding the first quarter, Parker scored on a man-up
situation for the Bruins, cutting the lead down to one. The first
quarter ended with the Trojans leading 4-3.
In the second quarter, the Bruins turned it up a notch, with
aggressive offense and defense and very quick counter attacks. The
Bruins outscored the Trojans 4-1 in the second quarter, taking
their largest lead in the game with a score of 7-5 in favor of the
Bruins.
UCLA started the scoring in the second quarter when freshmen
Sean Kern added another point to his team-leading 33 points. After
a defensive stop on a man-down situation, the Bruins took the lead
when Armato scored his second two-pointer of the game, giving the
Bruins a 6-4 lead.
The two teams traded goals to end the first half with the Bruins
leading 7-5.
In the third quarter, the Trojans got back in to the game with
two goals by Allen Basso and Hylton, but junior Aaron Harries
scored with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter, giving UCLA an 8-7
lead.
The Trojan offense came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring
three unanswered goals and jumping in front of the Bruins 10-8,
with 4:17 remaining in the quarter. After falling behind by two
points again, the Bruins could have packed the game in and just let
the time run out, but the Bruins showed great character by not
giving up.
The Bruins outscored the Trojans 2-1 in the last minutes, but
unfortunately, there was one goal too many on the scoreboard for
the Bruins to overcome. Kern scored for the Bruins to come within
one, but Mateo Juric scored the game-winning goal with 27 seconds
remaining in the game to give the Trojans a two-point lead. Harries
scored another goal with 16 seconds remaining but the Bruins just
fell short of beating the Trojans again.
In the previous match, the game entered overtime, and the
Trojans squeezed by the Bruins in the game in the Northern
California Tournament. Once again, the Bruin efforts just came up
short. With this victory, the Trojans swept the regular season
meetings, but with another possible match-up in the MPSF
Tournament, the close matches may turn the Bruins’ way.