Gaucho Tournament championship game Stanford 10
UCLA 7
By Emily Whichard
Daily Bruin Contributor
Another exciting weekend of tournament play left the UCLA
women’s water polo team with a firm hold on their position as
the No. 2 team in the nation.
The Bruins (6-2 overall and 1-0 Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation) traveled to Santa Barbara this weekend for the 2001
Gaucho Tournament.
The Bruins breezed through three games, but were dropped by No.
1 Stanford in the event’s championship game.
UCLA cruised past competition in the first two rounds on
Saturday, defeating UC Irvine, 16-3, and No. 8 UC Santa Barbara,
11-2. The team’s top scorer, freshman Natalie Golda, had
seven goals in the first two games.
UCLA greeted No. 4 California in Sunday’s semi-final
match-up with a 6-2 domination. The loss dropped California to a
5-4 overall record with two of their losses coming from the Bruins.
Junior Jenny Lamb led the team with two goals.
In the other semifinal game, Stanford defeated No. 3 USC. The
Trojans took the Cardinal into overtime before falling 13-12.
The championship game conjured up some deja vu for the Bruins
and Cardinal. Just two weeks ago the teams faced each other in the
finals of the Nor Cal Tournament. Unfortunately for the Bruins, the
results were equally familiar. Stanford handed the Bruins their
second loss of the season with a 10-7 defeat.
Sophomore Ashley Stachowski cited inconsistency as an obstacle.
“We had a lot of opportunities,” she said. “We
just weren’t putting it away like we can. Stanford was always
on.”
The loss ended UCLA’s four-game winning streak. Since only
two MPSF teams can enter the NCAA tournament, every loss is a scar
on the final record that will determine who can vie for the
first-ever NCAA title.
Junior Eleanor Murphy isn’t worried, though.
“We have a long season ahead of us.” she said.
“We can still go 10-0 in conference. We need to forget
Stanford for a few weeks and concentrate on getting the job done in
conference.”
The Bruins will have an opportunity to maintain their
untarnished conference record this weekend. They will play on the
road against the California Bears on Saturday and the Pacific
Tigers on Sunday.