CATHERINE JUN Natalie Golda tries to get
the ball past an Aztec defender at Saturday’s game.
UCLA 21 SDSU 3
By Emily Whichard
Daily Bruin Contributor
In most sports, a matchup between the previous year’s No.
1 and No. 6 ranked teams would offer an exciting game. In their
first conference game of the season, the UCLA women’s water
polo team didn’t find such excitement.
The Bruins opened up MPSF conference play on Saturday with a
dominating 21-3 victory over the San Diego State Aztecs.
UCLA’s squad was prepared for a challenging win and instead
found a pushover one.
“Based on what we saw last year, we didn’t expect
such an easy win,” Head Coach Adam Krikorian said.
While the win helped the Bruins improve to 3-1 overall, the
Aztecs’ disappointing play did not help UCLA prepare for
their upcoming tournament.
This weekend the team travels to Santa Barbara, where they will
face other top ten teams including Cal, Stanford and USC.
“We were definitely disappointed,” Krikorian said.
“We wish we had a better test going into the tournament this
weekend.”
The landslide victory did allow all the team members to play.
Freshman Natalie Golda came off the bench to score a career-high
five goals in the second half.
“She is a very talented player. It is just a matter of
time before she achieves what she’s capable of,”
Krikorian said.
In addition to Golda’s outstanding showing, sophomore
Jessica Lopez tied her career high with four goals. Coralie
Simmons, Elaine Zivich, Jenny Lamb, Thalia Munro and Robin
Beauregard all found the back of the net twice in the game.