If the UCLA women’s water polo team emerges from this weekend with a 4-0 record, it will deserve nothing but praise ““ it will mean the Bruins would have defeated four of the nation’s top 15 teams in just two days.
The NCAA Championship field will likely closely resemble the group of teams heading up to Palo Alto this weekend to play in the Stanford Invitational. The tournament’s eight-team field boasts the NCAA’s top five-ranked teams, including No. 4 UCLA, with no team ranking below No. 15 UC Davis (2-4).
UCLA opens the tournament on Saturday against No. 10 Hawai’i and No. 2 California (9-0), followed by No. 12 Michigan (2-2) on Sunday morning with an afternoon game to be determined. The Bruins (3-0) are excited about the opportunity to play such talented teams so early in the season.
“We haven’t met with Cal, ‘SC or Stanford since last year, so it’s really nice to go to Stanford and see where everyone is for the first time,” sophomore attacker Kelly Ronimus said.
After going undefeated at the Michigan Invitational two weekends ago, the team has had plenty of time to work on tempo in preparation for its first true test of the season.
“This week I feel like our speed of play was too slow,” coach Brandon Brooks said. “So we’re trying to pick that up. We’re trying to operate at the right game speed in order to get ready for this competition.”
Another challenge for the Bruins will be determining who their opponents’ playmakers will be on offense. California, for example, will be without senior attacker Emily Csikos, who scored 69 goals in 2010 and currently trains with Canadian National Team.
“We don’t necessarily know what (California is) going to do this year,” Brooks said. “So, for the most part, our preparation is always about what we can do best and how we can do things better.”
Averaging more than 9.5 goals per game in its first three games, UCLA now looks to hone in on its ability to improvise against stiffer competition this weekend.
“We’re really good at creating things,” senior goalkeeper Caitlin Dement said. “We just need to execute a little better and focus on the little things, and we’ll be golden.
“At Stanford, we’re going to play Cal … and possibly Stanford or ‘SC, all of which none of us really like, so it’s kind of exciting. That’s kind of the motivation to play good games and to be ready to go.”
The Bruins look forward to the Stanford Invitational as an opportunity to prepare themselves for the tough competition they will face from many of the same teams later in the season.
“I always love playing big games,” Brooks said. “This is why you train, this is why you come to UCLA and this is why you put so much into it. You want to be the best, you want to play against the best and you want to push yourself to the limit.”