Monday, November 23, 1998
Bruin team gets revenge against top-ranked USC
RECAP: Victory over Trojans restores squad’s confidence as
championships approach
By Steve Kim
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The UCLA men’s water polo team once again bounced back from a
disappointing game to redeem itself against the USC Trojans in a
6-3 home-pool victory.
Two Sundays ago, when the No. 2 UCLA team lost 6-9 to its No.
1-ranked Trojan rivals, nothing went its way. The Bruins let their
opponents take total control over the game with poor defense and
missed more shots than they could afford to miss in such a serious
game. It was chaos.
And now, this.
It was a game that erased past doubts and blemishes, even ones
as recent as seven days.
The Bruins took the early lead this time as senior attacker Sam
Grayeli netted a goal. Trojan Allen Basso quickly tied the game but
sophomore Adam Wright helped regain a Bruin edge with a goal. With
one second left in the first quarter, Grayeli scored another to
give his team a 3-1 lead.
Trojan Peter Janov scored his team’s second goal in the second
quarter, and the game saw a lot of scoreless back and forth action
until sophomore Brian Brown of UCLA netted one in the third
quarter. Grayeli capped the third quarter with his third goal of
the game and sophomore Sean Kern added a final scoring contribution
in the fourth quarter for the convincing win.
This time it was the Bruins, not the Trojans, who took command
from start to finish – a dramatic difference from last week.
"We finally got in the flow as of what we want to do," UCLA head
coach Guy Baker said. "We followed our game plan pretty closely to
what we wanted to get done. I still think we have ways to go as far
as how we play, but it’s a good start."
The Bruins had a defensive advantage with the return of two of
their injured starters, Blake Wellen and Neil Hueston. Goalkeeper
Parsa Bonderson and his six saves completed the strong showing of
the defensive unit.
Having lost to Southern Cal twice already this season, this win
was especially crucial, as this was the last regular-season
game.
"We thought we definitely owed them something from last week so
it felt really good to come out here and play a great game,"
co-captain Grayeli said. "We knew we needed this and it makes us
more confident now because we realize if we work hard and do what
we’re supposed to do, we can beat any team."
The result was evident. But what made the difference? The
answer, the Bruins said, was all in the head.
"Our mental state was the big difference," assistant coach Adam
Krikorian said. "We weren’t tentative, we weren’t scared, we came
out hard and aggressively right from the start. For once against
‘SC, these guys stepped up to the challenge."
The Bruins end their regular season with quickly approaching
conference and national championships in mind. They will most
likely face USC in either or both MPSF and NCAA tournaments, and
their focus was evident by the subdued post-game attitude.
The UCLA-USC game record now stands at 1-2. Although this game
was a confidence booster, the Bruins have yet to be completely
redeemed.
"Not yet," Wright said. "Not until we beat them in the
championships."
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