EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff UCLA freshman
Brett Ormsby skips a goal past Trevor
Spence in the first period of Friday’s 3-1 victory over
UCSB.
By Eric Perez
Daily Bruin Contributor
BERKELEY, Calif. “”mdash; All things considered, it was a job
well done for the UCLA men’s water polo team.
The Bruins (13-3, 7-1 Mountain Sports Pacific Federation) placed
third in the MPSF Tournament by beating Long Beach State 7-6 in
overtime Sunday at the Spieker Aquatics Complex.
The Bruins, ranked second in the nation, fell short of their
goal in winning the tournament title on Saturday, suffering an
upset at the hands of California 9-7.
Had the Bruins won the tournament, they would have garnered an
automatic berth to the NCAA Final Four. A victory over California
would have virtually assured them the at-large bid to the NCAA.
But the Golden Bears were playing perhaps the best water polo in
the country. The loss came at an inopportune time for the Bruins
and left them powerless in determining their fate for the rest of
the season.
“Obviously we’re disappointed,” junior
two-meter defender Matt Flesher said. “We didn’t play a
bad game yesterday, and a couple of tips didn’t go our way.
It’s a game of inches.”
UCLA d. Long Beach St. 7-6
UC Berkeley d. UCLA 9-7
The Bruins almost fell off tournament radar, coming out flat
against Long Beach in the third place game. They trailed 4-2 at one
point in the third quarter.
UCLA regrouped against the 49ers to force overtime and took the
lead on a penalty shot at the end of the first overtime by freshman
Brett Ormsby. The Bruins held their lead into the second period of
overtime and took third place in the tournament.
“We did what we needed to do to win,” UCLA assistant
coach Matt Armato said. “I don’t think we played very
well at all. We played really flat. Our effort across the board was
pretty lackluster.”
“I think they came out flat, and they weren’t
feeling it,” he added “It’s hard, coming off a
game like yesterday, to be able to come back and play in a
situation like today. But we did what we needed to do to
win.”
With UCLA losing to Cal, the Golden Bears were placed in the
tournament championship game against top-ranked Stanford, putting
UCLA in a awkward position; the Bruins had to root for their
arch-nemesis, the Cardinal.
Well, maybe not root for the Cardinal, but at least they wanted
Stanford to win.
“No I’m not,” said senior two-meter attacker
Alfonso Tucay when asked if he was rooting for Stanford. “I
want (Stanford) to win, but I’m not rooting for them, because
I hate Stanford.”
Thankfully for the Bruins, Stanford did win, and they did so in
a hostile environment. The Cardinal seemed absolutely determined to
atone for their 4-3 loss to Berkeley on Nov. 17, their only loss
this season.
Stanford defeated California 7-5 while Bruin players watched
poolside at one end of the pool, with their future out of their
hands.
Barring any lapse in judgement by the NCAA Men’s Water
Polo Committee, it is safe to say that the Bruins will be heading
to the NCAA Final Four to compete for the National
Championship.
“I’m thrilled,” head coach Adam Krikorian
said.
“All we wanted was just an opportunity to play in the
Final Four, and that was our goal at the beginning of the
season.”
They did it silently pulling for a Stanford victory.