BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior
Brian Brown passes in the Bruins’ 13-3 win
over Princeton on Sept.15.
By Rekha Rao
Daily Bruin Contributor
According to UCLA water polo head coach Adam Krikorian,
it’s all up to his team.
“They have to have the hunger to do it again,”
Krikorian said.
That is, the UCLA water polo team has to possess the hunger to
repeat their 1999 NCAA Championship from last season. The team has
16 returning members from that winning squad, including leadership
from six returning seniors.
UCLA now comes into the season with a 4-2 record, a No. 5
ranking and a desire to hold on to their title.
Krikorian compared this team to football’s San Francisco
49ers of the 1980s and early 1990s.
“The expectations are so high. We go into the season
expecting to win the championship. We realize that as defending
champion, there is going to be a target on our chests,” he
said.
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Two- Meter Offense
Senior Sean Kern would usually lead in this position, but the
Bruins will have to overcome losing him to the Olympics until
mid-October. Filling Kern’s position, senior Dave Parker
heads the team with his immense physical size, (he’s
6-foot-8), and his ability to out-muscle the opposition. Combined
in this effort is junior Alfonzo Tucay, who assists in the offense
on behalf of Kern.
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Two-Meter Defense
Seniors show their leadership and skill on the team here by
combining to form strong defensive play for the Bruins.
Blake Wellen and Andy Bailey head the defensive movement.
“Wellen has the strength to guard someone the size of the
offense men. You need to be a very intelligent player, possess a
lot of finesse, and be fairly fast. They are the last ones down the
pool, and they need to chase down the ball,” Krikorian
said.
Other two-meter defenders include sophomores Kyle Baumgarner and
Matt Flesher.
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Driver
The driver position in water polo is the most versatile, and
many players can fill this slot for the Bruins.
“Everyone has to be a driver at one point in the
game,” Krikorian said.
The top drivers again include the people on the team with the
most experience, like seniors Adam Wright and Brian Brown.
Wright is a three-time All-American and can draw from his
experience to be a leader for the Bruins.
“Wright is very unique and skilled at his position; he is
a great ball handler,” Krikorian said. “He is the
leader of the offense, he is like the point guard of basketball
“¦ he directs the offense.
“Brown is very quick and also has a great outside
shot,” he added.
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Goalie
“To be goalie, you want a person who will take up as much
of the goal as possible,” Krikorian said.
Sophomore Brandon Brooks, 6-6 and 225 pounds, fills this
position well for the Bruins.
“He has good reactions, is very quick, and is very
athletic,” Krikorian continued.
Brooks, who made a championship-saving save to preserve
UCLA’s 6-5 lead in last year’s title game against
Stanford, admits that there is a lot of pressure that comes with
being the Bruins’ last line of defense.
“As goalie, I think every goal that we let get scored on
us is my fault,” Brooks said. “Sometimes there are
goals you can’t do anything about.”
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Outlook
The preseason No. 1 Bruins continued their road to the
championship with four victories over the course of the Sept. 15-17
weekend after their opening loss to No. 5 UC Irvine, 9-7 in
overtime, on Sept. 9.
“By no means did they surprise us and by no means did we
underestimate them; we just didn’t necessarily play up to par
against them,” Krikorian. said of the loss to UCI.
On Sept. 15, the team beat Princeton 13-3 for their first
victory of the season.
The streak continued on Saturday at the Southern California
Tournament, held in Corona del Mar. UCLA swept both Long Beach
State and UC Santa Barbara, with scores of 13-6 and 10-4,
respectively.
“The Southern California Tournament is always great,
because it is the first time you see all the top teams. We want to
get back to playing UCLA water polo,” Krikorian said.
Wright, the team’s co-captain, said the team’s
philosophy is to focus only on the upcoming game.
“We are taking it game by game. If you look too far ahead,
you end up losing a game like we did to Irvine,” he said.
The Bruins headed into the semi-finals of the SoCal Tournament
fresh off two victories, but then fell to USC, 5-4. UCLA did,
however, finish the tournament beating No. 1 California 10-7,
securing the third place standing.
MEN’S WATER POLO SCHEDULE Â
Date   Opponent
Outcome/Time 09/09 09/15 09/16
09/17
09/24
09/29
10/01
10/07
10/14
10/15
10/21
10/22
10/28
11/04
11/05
11/12
11/18
 @ UC Irvine Princeton Long Beach State UCSB USC Cal @
Pacific @ UC Santa Barbara Pepperdine @ USC @ Cal @ Stanford Nor
Cal Tournament   (@ Pacific) Nor Cal Tournament
  (@ Pacific) Loyola Marymount Stanford (Rosebowl) Long
Beach State UC Irvine USC (Rosebowl) Â L, 9-7 W, 13-3 W, 13-6
W, 10-4 L, 5-4 W, 10-7 12:00 PM 4:00 PM 12:00 PM 12:00 PM TBA 12:00
PM All Day
All Day
12:00 PM
12:00 PM
12:00 PM
12:00 PM
TBA
 SOURCE: Sports Info (schedule is tentative) Original by
JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web Adaptation by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin
Senior Staff U.S. WATER POLO POLL This poll for
men’s water polo was last updated 09/13/2000. Â Â
1. UCLA 2. Cal 3. Stanford 4. USC 5. UC Irvine 6.
Pepperdine 7. Long Beach State 8. Pacific 9. UCSB 10. Navy 11. UCSD
12. Air Force 13. Queens 14. Massachusetts-Amherst 15. Loyola
Marymount 16. Princeton 17. St. Francis 18. UC Davis 19. Brown 20.
Harvard  SOURCE: www.espn.com *poll data released
every Wednesday Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web Adaptation
by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff MEN’S WATER
POLO Â Brandon Brooks(So.)
Goalkeeper, 6’6, 225 Â Blake Wellen(Sr.)
Defender, 6’4, 190
Adam Wright(Sr.)
Playmaker, 6’2, 185
Matt Flesher(So.)
Attack, 2-meter offense, 6’2, 195
Brian Brown(Sr.) Playmaker, 6’0, 175
Dave Parker(Sr.)
2-meter offense, 6’8′, 200
Andy Bailey(Sr.)
Defender, 6’2, 185
Key Player currently in Sydney
Sean Korn(Sr.)
2-meter offense, Defender, 6’6, 215
SOURCE: Sports Info Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web
Adaptation by HERNANE TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff