Friday, October 23, 1998
Team tries to stay afloat against Bears, Cardinal
M.WATERPOLO: Weekend holds tough competition from familiar
adversaries
By Steve Kim
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The UCLA men’s water polo team plays two of its rivals,
California and Stanford, this weekend at their respective home
territories up in the Bay Area.
On paper, No. 2 UCLA currently has the advantage over both
opponents. It has a 10-2 overall match record, and is undefeated in
conference play. The Bruins came off with a second-place finish in
last weekend’s Northern California tournament in which Stanford and
Cal were knocked out of the final match.
Fifth-ranked Cal is suffering a three-game losing streak. Golden
Bear senior Ryan Flynn leads the offense with 38 points this
season, yet the team has a 7-7 overall and 2-3 conference
record.
Although Cal isn’t having a great season, it still doesn’t take
away from a sense of heated rivalry between the Bears and the
Bruins. There were many seasons when the best water polo team came
down to either UCLA or Cal.
Head coach Guy Baker, for one, remembers the time when the
Golden Bears narrowly beat the Bruins out of the NCAA championship
game during his first year coaching here. It’s games like that, and
several more of a similar kind, that makes Baker want to savor
every moment of defeating Cal.
"I can’t emphasize how big of a rivalry it is between UCLA and
Cal," he said. "It’s going to be a physically brutal game. If we
come out with a win, it’s going to be a good one."
With Cal being a historically dominant team, Bruin coach Adam
Krikorian is cautious about underestimating the Bears simply
because it lost several games this season.
"They’re not having a season that they had hoped for, but it
doesn’t mean it’s not a threat. They have tons of guys who can play
really well and it’s always difficult to play up there."
Sunday is another day to play with another challenging team. No.
3 ranked Stanford is having a better season so far than Cal. It has
a 13-3 overall and 4-1 conference record. The Cardinal features two
time All-American goalie Chris Agurlera, who had 10 saves against
UCLA last weekend at the Nor Cal tournament.
The Bruins ended up beating them that weekend in a 9-8 overtime
game. It gave the Bruins a confidence boost  on the other
hand it gave the Cardinal motivation to redeem themselves.
"When you end up losing in overtime, you always feel that you
should have had it," UCLA co-captain Sam Grayeli said. "I’m sure
they’re going to be extremely pumped up. There’s probably more
incentive on their part, trying to make a statement that they
could’ve won that last game."
Stanford not only needs to prove their worth to themselves but
also to the water polo community. In fact, both Stanford and UCLA
are racking up the wins to get the at-large bid for the NCAA
championship tournament, in case they miss out on the qualifying
event.
"It’s a critical game for Stanford," Baker said. "We’re going to
get their best effort. We’re going to play them this weekend and
another day, so somebody is going to come out with a 2-1
record."
The Bruins look to beat Cal in their first match of the season
and better their performance against Stanford this weekend. And the
fact that this is a single match as opposed to last week’s
tournament match helps both teams in concentrating on playing just
one team that particular day.
"The difference is that in a tournament, we have two games a day
so we can’t focus as well," Grayeli said. "You still do, but you
also have to think about what you have next. But this weekend, we
can go to Cal Saturday and do what we have to do and then go off to
Stanford the next day and prepare mentally and physically just for
that game."
Now in mid-season and switching into higher gear, Baker stresses
the importance of winning games as everyone rallies for the NCAA
championships.
"Each game gets magnified from here on out," Baker said.
"Any loss and win after this point is huge."
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