This post was updated Oct. 14 at 9:55 p.m.
A whistle blew in the middle of the first quarter.
Still, a Tiger fired a shot into the back of the Bruin net.
Maybe he didn’t hear the whistle. Maybe he didn’t care.
Maybe he knew the Tigers weren’t going to get many shots off Saturday and just wanted to know what scoring would feel like.
No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo (18-0, 2-0 MPSF) defeated No. 13 Princeton (14-6, 4-1 NWPC) 23-10 at Spieker Aquatics Center – its largest margin of victory since Sept. 19 and largest against a Division I opponent since Sept. 6.
“We’re trying to be more consistent in our approach, especially towards defense,” said coach Adam Wright. “Really love the effort and energy the guys brought tonight. … It’s a great win for us, but it’s all a tribute to these guys and the energy they decided to play with tonight.”
Not only did the Bruins outscore the Tigers by double digits, Princeton’s 22 total shots were fewer than UCLA’s total goals.
Redshirt senior attacker Chase Dodd put UCLA on the board within the first 70 seconds, and the Bruins never looked back.
After redshirt junior utility Ben Larsen put the Bruins up 12-3 with 3:00 left in the second quarter, UCLA’s lead would never dip below nine.
UCLA’s advantage got as high as 14 points when senior utility Gray Carson scored in the first half of the fourth quarter to put UCLA up 22-8 before Wright chose to rest his starters.
Sophomore attacker Ryder Dodd either led or tied all Bruin scorers in goals for the 13th time this season Saturday, scoring five goals on eight shots – his fifth five-goal performance of the season.
One of those goals came when Dodd stole the ball near UCLA’s goal, swam the length of the pool, fired a blocked shot before recovering his own rebound and scored on his second attempt.
Another came in the third quarter, when Wright pulled redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Nate Tauscher for the 7-on-6 advantage, allowing Dodd to score his fourth of the evening.
“When we have opportunities, we want to work game situations,” Wright said. “We wanted to treat that like we were down two goals with 1:13 left in the game. … So just creating situations.”
The Bruins ultimately converted on 9-of-12 power plays, blocked 12-of-22 Tiger shots, stole the ball 14 times and won the turnover battle 17-12.
One of Saturday’s top performers was sophomore utility Bode Brinkema, who tied his career-high four goals – a performance that ranked second only to Dodd – while adding two assists.
“It was great to play a complete game with our team,” Brinkema said. “(We) stuck to our details and ultimately beat the Tigers.”
Senior attacker Noah Rowe also cracked the score sheet with two goals and an assist – achieving just his fourth multi-goal appearance in 18 games played this season.
But even if he can’t match the scoring output of some of the Bruins’ younger players such as Dodd or Brinkema, Rowe embraces his veteran role.
“Being an older guy, I’m expected to know more and execute the details better,” Rowe said. “Just getting the team acclimated and … being one of the guys that knows the details, the in and outs and is helping in any way possible.”
Although certain Bruins stood out on the score sheet, the team spread the ball around, with 12 players finding the back of the net.
Wright, Brinkema and Rowe all spoke on the importance of communication, with Wright saying he is happy with how his players have communicated across their last three wins. Still, Wright added that improvement always helps – especially on defense.
Possibly the most exciting part of the blowout came with 5:45 left in the third, when the referee handed Wright a yellow card after a brief argument between the two.
“Things were getting physical (in the pool),” Wright said. “And what we don’t want to have happen is any player – whether it be them or us – get hurt. We want to make sure that things aren’t escalating, and things were going in there (the pool) for about five, six, seven seconds and starting to get physical.”
Regardless, the Bruins remained perfect and with just five regular season matches left – including four against conference foes.
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