By Mayar Zokaei Daily Bruin Contributor
For the third-ranked UCLA women’s water polo team, their game
against top-ranked California last Friday marked a final
opportunity to make waves before the upcoming MPSF
Championships.
Using a two-goal outburst in the first quarter, fueled by senior
Erin Golaboski and freshman Jessica Lopez, the Bruins upset Cal,
7-6, snapping the Bears’ 15-game winning streak in the process.
"It wasn’t a surprise. We’ve been playing well at practice,"
head coach Adam Krikorian said. "We have a talented team. It was
just a matter of time before we started coming around and playing
well together as a team."
Three players posted goals for UCLA, led by Lopez’s four- goal
onslaught. Bruin goalkeeper Jaime Hipp also turned in a notable
performance, registering 11 saves.
Lopez was named MPSF Player of the Week for her efforts. Her 31
goals on the season rank third-best on the squad.
"What an honor," Lopez said upon learning of the award. She
pointed out that she couldn’t have performed so well without the
support of the other Bruins.
"We played awesome team defense, and that defense created good
offensive opportunities," Lopez said.
The Bruins beat California by a combined two points in two
contests this season, including a 6-5 victory earlier in the season
en route to capturing the UC San Diego Tournament title.
On Saturday the outcome remained the same but the story was much
different as the Bruins trounced Pacific 16-2 in their final
regular-season home game.
UCLA surged to a 7-0 halftime lead and was leading 11-1 after
three quarters on the strength of three goals by Serela Kay and two
apiece by Carly Herrera and Catharine von Schwarz.
The three seniors led 11 players who tallied goals, while
Pacific’s Molly Smith mustered the Tigers’ only goals, one in each
of the two last stanzas.
The Bruins (20-3, 8-1 MPSF) now control their own destiny as
they head to San Jose to compete in the MPSF Tournament, which runs
Friday through Sunday.
Despite finishing in a three-way tie with UCLA and Stanford, and
being dealt its first conference loss of the season by the Bruins,
Cal secured the No. 1 seed in the tournament via a tiebreaker,
decided by a goal differential formula based on most goals scored
and fewest goals allowed.
But expectations are high for the Bruins this year after they
fell short in their quest for a fourth-straight national title in
1999.
"We’re all pretty confident going into this weekend the way
we’ve been playing the past couple weeks," Krikorian said.
The biggest factor this year should be the return of von
Schwarz, who spent last year training with the U.S. National Team
after leading UCLA to three national championships and a 97-3 mark
during her first three seasons. That and the addition of young,
talented freshmen like Lopez could be just what the Bruins need to
return to their dominating ways.