Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
That sentiment will hold true for the Bruins as they face off against their crosstown rivals Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Center.
No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo (17-0, 3-0 MPSF) will face off against No. 4 USC (10-4, 0-3 MPSF) for its first game at home since defeating Bay Area schools Stanford and California on the road. Coach Adam Wright said the difference between last year’s squad and the currently undefeated team in 2023 is the depth it brings to the pool.
“They just keep going with players in and players out, players not coming back, and the reality is this group has grown a lot in a short amount of time,” Wright said. “We can see that through their play.”
This will be the second time in 2023 that the Bruins compete against the Trojans after the former claimed a 14-10 victory over the latter at the Overnght/MPSF Invitational on Sept. 23.
However, history hasn’t always been in UCLA’s favor. The Trojans blocked the Bruins from advancing to the national championship in the 2022 season, winning 15-12.
“The reality is UCLA versus USC,” Wright said. “It’s always a close game one way or the other, and I think the biggest thing is we’ve been progressively rebuilding week by week. … Our hope is, we’re better out on this weekend than we were last.”
Offensively, the Bruins have scored in the double digits since the start of the season, with their lowest score being 10 against Pepperdine. As preparation begins for the Bruins to head into the last quarter of their season, the focus has been on adapting and reacting to any unforeseen circumstances as a team, redshirt freshman utility Ben Larsen said.
“Everyone on the team is working hard, swimming a lot,” Larsen said. “The biggest thing has just been executing the small details and playing as a group, not having any individual, one-on-one moments.”
UCLA showed off its defensive performance last weekend, holding Stanford to its lowest-scoring performance of the year and adding its 17th consecutive win to its mantle.
Senior goalkeeper Garret Griggs said holding any opposition to a low-scoring game is a necessary part of the Bruins’ process.
“At the end of the day, it’s really a team effort to be able to hold these teams on defense to not score as much,” Griggs said. “We just have to keep doubling down on assets and pushing the standard.”
With certain Bruins out of the pool – including senior attacker Chase Dodd, who is taking the year off to train for the 2024 Paris Olympics – a variety of players have been front and center of the offensive. This includes Larsen, who drew three exclusions against Cal last weekend.
“Even for the guys who don’t suit up, we have an amazing group of guys,” Larsen said. “Even the guys who are playing, everyone can go out there and play, and I think everyone’s attributing to our success so far this year.”
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