Showcasing their depth, the Bruins played every active member of the roster in Thursday’s victory over Fresno State.
No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (17-4, 2-1 MPSF) defeated No. 9 Fresno State (14-8, 6-0 GCC) in the team’s third home game at Spieker Aquatics Center on Thursday. The final score of 15-7 featured goals from eight different players, with freshman utilities Sienna Green and Anna Pearson both picking up hat tricks.
The Bruins got off to a quick start with a 7-2 result by the end of the first quarter, the second largest tally after the first frame for the Bruins this season, behind a 9-1 quarter over San Diego State back in January.
Green picked up a hat trick in the first slate, denting the twine three times in a four-minute span. The utility player said the team started the game moving really quickly.
“Energy was pumping,” Green said. “We were really excited to be at home and to get to play in the middle of the week. So I think that just translated into the water.”
The Bruins’ second goal of the game came on a counterattack from sophomore attacker Molly Renner, who picked up three steals across the contest.
Coach Adam Wright said transitions are something the team has focused on this season, but credited Renner for the individual effort.
“Molly’s a fast, quick player. She stole the ball and just got out on the counter,” Wright said. “We’ve been focusing heavily on transition in frontcourt defense, but that was just an individual situation where she created a one on nobody on her own.”
During the first quarter, the Bruins picked up two exclusions on the same play to give Fresno State a 6-on-4 advantage. Redshirt senior goalkeeper Georgia Phillips made the initial save, but Fresno put in their second goal of the game off the rebound.
Wright said that because the team has other priorities, the 6-on-4 isn’t something they get to practice as much, but that today showed the importance of being prepared for all scenarios.
Across the game, Wright utilized all active members of the roster. Both Green and Wright emphasized how key it was to get everyone time against Fresno.
“Every single element of our program is equally as important,” Wright said. “It’s hard for those players sometimes that don’t get to travel or play all the time to really get a sense of how important they are, but then to get them in a position to go out there and play is really, really important too.”
For the first time this season, all four goalkeepers got time across the game. Phillips took the first half, freshman Izzy Rosensitto guarded the cage in the third quarter and sophomore MJ Bailey and junior Sydney Chiang split the fourth quarter.
The final three allowed just one goal each and notched two saves during their time in net.
Phillips – who has spent most of the time across the season in the net – said she learns from the younger members just as they learn from her.
“It’s so much fun seeing the other goalies get a chance to execute all the hard work that they put in,” Phillips said. “We root for each other all day so it’s really fun and they killed it.”
The Bruins now turn to their contest with No. 19 Arizona on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Tempe.
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