By Adam Titcher
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA men’s water polo team came home empty handed for
the third time this season against Stanford. The top-ranked
Cardinal handed the No. 2 Bruins their worst loss of the season,
8-3, at the Avery Aquatic Center.
After working hard in practice, the Bruins (9-3, 4-1 Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation) felt as if they let this game get
away.
“I do not think we fought hard,” UCLA head coach
Adam Krikorian said. “We did not compete at the level that we
should have.”
The game opened up with a four-meter penalty goal for the
Cardinal (14-0, 6-0) in the first minute. UCLA senior two-meter
offenseman Alfonso Tucay responded with a goal to tie the game with
3:17 left in the first quarter.
Yet, a 1-1 tie was the closest the Bruins could manage.
“We did not play our game and that let them do whatever
they wanted to do to us,” junior goalkeeper Brandon Brooks
said.
The Cardinal scored three consecutive goals through the middle
of the second quarter to make the score 4-1. There was little hope
left for the Bruins despite a late first-half goal from sophomore
driver Albert Garcia.
Stanford answered with another goal to make it 5-2 at
halftime.
The Cardinal’s first-half performance showed why Stanford
is the nation’s best college water polo team.
“We played really great defense against a good
team,” Stanford head coach Dante Dettamanti said. “To
hold UCLA down to three goals in a whole game is a great
feeling.”
On the other side, feelings were low for the Bruins. The squad,
which made its second road trip in three weeks up north, came home
searching for answers.
“It was an uneventful game because they jumped out on us
and held their lead,” Krikorian said. “Their whole team
out played us.”
Stanford scored another three goals in the third quarter to make
the score 8-2. Garcia answered again with a goal in the third
quarter, but it was too late.
While neither team went on to score in the fourth quarter,
UCLA’s defense was needed much earlier.
With this loss, the Bruins are still not done for the season.
They have four more games left in the season and they look forward
to getting a high seed for the MPSF tournament.
If Stanford continues its rout of the conference, they will be
the team to go through in the end.
“We gotta give them credit for their play because they
were good at taking us out,” Garcia said. “We are over
the Stanford game for now, but hopefully we’ll see them
again. We really want to play them again.”