W. WaterPolo head goes here at 46 points
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 22, 1996 9:00 p.m.
W. WaterPolo head goes here at 46 points
By Mark J. Dittmer
Daily Bruin Contributor
The top-ranked UCLA women’s water polo team may be missing a few
starters, but that doesn’t mean that you want to have to play
it.
The Bruins (4-0) hope to manhandle USC and UC Santa Barbara this
weekend at the Men’s Gym pool without the help of freshmen Mandy
McAloon, Catherine von Schwarz and Coralie Simmons, who are all at
junior national tryouts this weekend.
In their places, head coach Guy Baker will start seniors Megan
Oesting, Jill Buckley and freshman Katie Tenenbaum as UCLA hopes
for a fast start in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
"I think we’ll be fine," Baker said. "We were rotating nine
field players in and out of the game in San Diego, so (Oesting,
Buckley, and Tenenbaum) played as much as the starters did."
The rest of the Bruin lineup is ready to enjoy the leading
roles, with the starting freshmen away for the weekend.
Stephanie Natcher starred as a freshman last year when she was
named All-American after leading the Bruins in goals. She is just
getting back into the swing of things, after off-season
arthroscopic knee surgery.
Redshirt freshman Jennifer McFerrin is also reaching full
strength, making a comeback from a shoulder injury that kept her
from playing all of last season. Molly Barnes returns from injury
this weekend, and should see significant playing time.
Just as they begin to reach full strength, the Bruins find
themselves playing the two teams with the two worst showings in the
UC San Diego tournament last week in a pair of conference
matchups.
UCSB (2-2), who visits Westwood on Saturday, was able to pull
off seventh place in the eight-team tournament, beating USC 12-5
last weekend. That left the Trojans (0-4) in eighth place, having
been outscored over four games 44-16.
Of the 44 goals the Trojans allowed, 17 were scored by UCLA in
one game, the most scored in one game throughout the tournament.
USC hopes to improve their defense against the Bruins in today’s
meeting.
"They play two people on offense, two at midcourt and two on
defense," Baker said. "And they basically try to slow the game way
down. Their coach does a good job, and they should continue to
improve as the season goes on."
Whether they can improve quickly enough to pull off an upset
against UCLA is another matter. And if UCLA gets through both games
without an upset, then they will have two full weeks off to heel
any remaining wounds, before their next match at Stanford March
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