Tuesday, February 10, 1998
Tournament goes swimmingly for Bruins
UCLA dominates challengers in defense of No. 1 rating
By Steve Kim
Daily Bruin Contributor
It was a rainy weekend – but then again, the game played was
water polo. The show must and did go on.
No rain, nor other team for that matter, could slow the Bruins
down on their way to winning the UCSD Tournament this weekend. If a
picture is worth a thousand words, perhaps one will get the picture
with these numbers: 18-5, 13-4, 13-3, 11-4, and 11-4.
The Bruins simply dominated the tournament in their first outing
of the season. Friday’s game against a brand new San Jose State
team was just the warm-up as the UCLA squad triumphed 18-5. After a
6-0 first quarter lead, this game gave the opportunity for all the
players in the squad to participate and still come out with a
13-point lead. Sophomore Erin Golaboski scored a team-high six
points.
Saturday morning’s game against host UCSD was a similar story,
as the Bruins outscored UCSD 13-4. Although UCLA head coach Guy
Baker described his team’s performance as a "little bit slower than
the Friday’s game," the whole team got to play again. The fact that
everyone participated and still pulled off such a vast lead
indicates the depth of the Bruin squad, and Baker has stated that
it’s the deepest team he’s had.
Saturday night’s performance against No. 4 San Diego State was
anything but sluggish. The winning score of 13-3 tells very little
compared to what Baker had to say.
"That was the best game I’ve seen this team play since this
group’s been together," Baker said. "Their fast break in the third
quarter would be a highlight any time of the year."
After three games, and two more ahead, they were still going
strong. There was no sign of losing momentum as the Bruins won the
semi finals against UC Santa Barbara 11-4.
Then came the final game, where No. 1 UCLA faced No. 2 Cal. If
the No. 2 team can only score four points against the No. 1 team,
which is precisely what happened when UCLA won 11-4, then the No. 1
team is in a pretty comfortable position as it faces the
season.
But Baker plays it down, so as not to let all the huge victories
go to his and his team’s heads. He is quick to mention that the
Bruins didn’t play the No. 3 Stanford Cardinal, which placed third
in the tournament. Baker is also quick to give credit to Cal for
giving the Bruins the most competition and acknowledge UCSB for
improving the most.
As if not to jinx the team for the rest of the long season
ahead, Baker plays it modest for the early success.
"No one plays their best water polo this time of the year. We’re
all going to be improving, so we’re giving room to improve in all
areas of the game," Baker said.
Even with all the critical evaluation, which is necessary to
sustain a national championship team, Baker finds words for some
compliments.
"I think this time of the year, we did a very good job. It’s
probably the best we played in that tournament."