Monday, November 9, 1998
Disappointing win over UCSD inspires strong play against UCI
RECAP: No. 2 Bruins defeat Tritons 16-10, No. 4 Anteaters 9-6;
up next No. 1 Trojans
By Steve Kim
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Their winning scores may speak otherwise, but it was a weekend
of both downs and ups for the UCLA men’s water polo team as they
faced UC San Diego on Friday and UC Irvine on Sunday.
The No. 2 ranked Bruins beat UCSD, 16-10, and added a conference
win against UCI, 9-6.
Even though the Bruins defeated the No. 10 UCSD Tritons, they
were quite unhappy with their performance.
The unsatisfying victory  an ultimate sports irony.
The Bruins darted out to outscore the Tritons 9-1 by the end of
the first half. However, a series of goals made by UCSD players and
a lackluster defense by the Bruins in the third quarter decreased
the point gap to 11-8. The Bruins got out of their third quarter
slump and once again increased their lead to the final score of
16-10.
Much like they did against the No. 8 Long Beach State the
previous weekend, the Bruins let their guard down against a lower
caliber team in the third quarter after a successful first half.
Forget the win, the coaches were disgusted with this negative
trend.
"It’s unacceptable," UCLA assistant coach Adam Krikorian said.
"With the way we were playing in the beginning, we should have been
able to put away that team. This game typifies the way we’ve been
playing this season in that we’ll have a great game or weekend and
come back to lose that focus and end up with a poor game the next
week. But then we always seem to be able to regroup again like we
did in the fourth quarter here.
"With this team," Krikorian said, "it’s how much they want to
focus and how much effort they want to put into the game."
If the Bruins didn’t want it badly enough against UCSD, they
surely wanted it two days later against the No. 4 UCI. They showed
it with an intense, fast-paced winning game.
The Bruins charged ahead with a 2-0 lead in the first quarter,
5-2 in the second and distanced the lead to 8-2 by the end of the
third quarter. Senior attacker Sam Grayeli turned his performance
up with three points in the game while sophomore two-meter-man Sean
Kern, who scored eight points two days earlier, added two more
points for his team.
The Anteaters raised their game to a more physical level and
scored four points in the fourth quarter. But their rally was too
little, too late, as sophomore defender Andy Bailey capped the
game’s score to 9-6 during a 6 on 5 power-play.
"The first three quarters was probably as well as we could play
them," UCLA head coach Guy Baker said. "Fourth quarter, we slipped
a little but I said before the game if we won by three, I would’ve
taken it."
Prior to the UCI game, the Bruins conducted serious team
meetings about their game against UCSD (and similarly dull games).
Their change in attitude made the difference between Friday and
Sunday games.
"We just accepted the fact that this is a young team that’s in
its first year of being in the hunt for the NCAA championship,"
Baker said. "We’re showing some inconsistencies but we’re going to
try to find a way to get things done."
"What made the difference was that we were focused on the task
at hand," coach Krikorian said.
"We didn’t get carried away with certain things in the water.
The Achilles heel of the team has been being able to come back
after a great win, which is really going to matter next weekend
against USC. So we’ll see if we can put two great games together in
a row."
With a record of 17-3 overall and 6-1 in MPSF conference, the
Bruins look strong. The No. 2 ranked UCLA Bruins travel to the
other side of town to take on the No. 1 ranked USC Trojans this
Sunday.GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin
Blake Wellen looks to pass the ball past an opposing player from
Cal State Long Beach in last week’s game. UCLA picked up two more
victories this weekend.
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