JANA SUMMERS The No. 2 ranked UCLA men’s water polo team
faces Cal in an important meet at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center on
Saturday, Oct. 20 at 3 p.m.
By Adam Titcher
Daily Bruin Contributor
Just as the undefeated UCLA football team is expected to beat a
winless and subpar Cal team Saturday at the Rose Bowl, UCLA
men’s water polo head coach Adam Krikorian likes his chances
against Cal earlier in the day.
Especially because the water polo game will be at the Rose Bowl
Aquatic Center.
“I enjoy playing at the Rose Bowl,” he said.
“We are going to win a national title in football, so I want
to be a part of it ““ not to put too much pressure on coach
Bob Toledo.”
The players also enjoy the atmosphere created by the football
game. With a larger fan base created from those tailgating for the
football game, the No. 2 Bruins (8-2 overall, 3-0 Mountain Pacific
Sports Federation) look for a solid victory in the pool, before
heading out to the Bowl.
The meet itself is an important conference match-up for both
teams because a win will help secure a better MPSF position.
“It is not a must win, but a win will put us in the driver
seat behind Stanford,” Bruin freshman driver Brett Ormsby
said. “A win would go a long way to securing a seed in the
(NCAA) Tournament.” The top two teams in the MPSF most likely
will get automatic bids for the national tournament.
As of now UCLA is behind top-ranked Stanford. The Bruins, who
have fallen twice to the Cardinal this year, look to continue their
rampage over the rest of the conference.
Cal (8-2, 2-1) looks to hold their own ground. They trail UCLA
by a half game and look to pass them. The No. 5 Bears and their
impressive play this year have made this match-up important for the
Bruins.
MEN’S WATERPOLO vs. Saturday 3 p.m. Rose Bowl
Aquatic Center
“It is a really good Cal team,” Krikorian said.
“But we are trying to stay undefeated in conference and stay
No. 2 in the rankings.”
The Bruins are not getting ahead of themselves, though. Like
their original goal of the season, they are taking one game at a
time. With a win, they can then build on momentum for future
match-ups versus No. 3 Pepperdine and No. 1 Stanford.
This will be the first meeting between both teams, although they
first saw each other play last week at the NorCal tournament.
“We thought they looked really great this past
weekend,” Cal head coach Peter Asch said. “We are
looking forward to playing them.”
The Bruins are fighting off some nagging injuries from last
week. But, Krikorian feels that all his players should be healthy
by game time.
“Four teams will do that to you,” sophomore driver
Albert Garcia said. “When teams are not beating you, they
have to beat you another way.”