The last time UCLA and Cal Lutheran squared off in women’s water polo, the Regals were overmatched from the moment the official dropped the ball.
While no current Bruins played in the game, which took place nearly four years ago, a 22-3 landslide commands a certain confidence, regardless of how long ago it happened.
As the two schools, both of which went on to make the 2009 NCAA tournament bracket, meet this Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Center, it’s clear the Bruins still feel prepared to take on their opponents from Thousand Oaks, Calif.
“We should expect to be pretty crisp,” said coach Brandon Brooks. “Cal Lutheran has been to NCAA’s once and they’re a team that has a lot of energy, but they’re a team that we should be able to run our system against.”
“We’re going to have a tough week, and we should come out and expect to execute.”
Saturday afternoon’s game is a bit of an anomaly. It’s just one of two non-conference home games that fall between early season tournaments designed to let teams know where they stand and individual Mountain Pacific Sports Federation games that count for conference tournament seeding.
While this unusual game does not serve either of these two purposes, the Bruins insist that focus and intensity will not be problematic – there is a certain excitement about them as they return to play in front of their home fans for the first time this season.
“It’s always exciting to play at home. … Hopefully we’ll get some fans; we always like it when people come,” said sophomore attacker Emily Donohoe.
“I think it’ll be good too because hopefully we get a chance to play everyone, and just keep working and keep getting better.”
Because the No. 3 Bruins (11-1) are not very deep into their schedule, practices are focused on conditioning and fundamentals of the game like counterattacks as opposed to specific game plans for teams like Cal Lutheran. With the more intense portion of UCLA’s schedule now less than a month away, team camaraderie is quickly becoming a common theme as well.
“A lot of this week, we’ve been working on coming together as a team,” said freshman defender Maddy McLaren. “We’re starting to play a lot of tournaments together and a lot of games together, and we’re at practice all the time. … I think we’re growing the most as a team, and we’re getting used to playing with each other.”
This same team camaraderie is what the Bruins hope will foster strong late-game composure down the stretch of the season.
“Our game has a lot of momentum swings, so you have to be in control of the game that whole time,” McLaren said. “It’s just not giving anything to your opponent.”
Email Erickson at [email protected].