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W. polo sails past five teams on way to nail-biter with Cal

By Daily Bruin Staff

March 10, 1996 9:00 p.m.

W. polo sails past five teams on way to nail-biter with Cal

Bruins secure top spot in nation with win against Bears

By Mark J. Dittmer

Daily Bruin Contributor

When the UCLA women’s water polo team travelled to Stanford for
a six-game tournament this weekend, it was easy to look ahead to
the last game of the tournament, against California. After all, the
Bruins were ranked No. 1 and Cal was ranked No. 2, and four of
UCLA’s other games were against teams the Bruins had beaten in the
past.

Now, looking back at the busy weekend, it still seems that there
was good reason to look past the Bruins’ first five opponents to
the second-ranked Cal Bears. The Bruins rolled into their last game
having outscored opponents 38-6. Then, they finished off their
weekend with a nail-biter against California, coming through with a
10-8 win.

The win against the Bears ensures that the Bruins (11-0 overall,
2-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will hold the top spot in
the nation for at least another week.

"I was really happy with the way we played, especially in the
game against Cal," UCLA head coach Guy Baker said. "Cal has a great
team, so it was a good test for us."

Good tests are hard to find for UCLA. The weekend began with
news that it would be easier than expected, when UC Santa Cruz
dropped out of the tournament. It only got easier.

The Bruins beat Stanford by the modest score of 5-1, but UCLA
"was dominating the game," according to Baker. Stanford kept the
score at 2-1 through three quarters thanks to great goal play, but
was eventually unable to hold off the Bruin attack.

On Saturday, UCLA blew out UC Santa Barbara 12-2, and beat UC
Davis 7-2. Then on Sunday, the Bruins warmed up for Cal with a 14-1
whipping of the Santa Barbara B team.

In Cal, UCLA was finally able to find a team that could at least
play at their level. The game was certainly as close as the score
indicated, and the Bruins needed a key penalty shot save from
Nicholle Payne to stay afloat.

Penalty shots also played a big part on the offensive end –
freshman Coralie Simmons finished with four of them that she
converted into goals. Simmons added one more goal to finish with
five.

Before the win over Cal, the Bruins’ closest contest had been
against Santa Barbara, who two weeks ago lost to UCLA by only four
goals.

But the Bruins were not at full strength two weeks ago, and they
were also disappointed with their play in that game. Not this
time.

The 12-2 was not a result of poorer play by the Gauchos, but
rather heightened intensity from the Bruins.

"I think it’s a credit to the way we played," Baker said. "We’re
a dominant team when we play our best. We were 1-for-12 on fast
break opportunities against Stanford. We came back against Santa
Barbara and put those opportunities away."

The UCLA defense was noticeably dominant going into the Cal
game, with Nicholle Payne’s goals-against-average having dropped
below three. The Bruin defense was so tight that he felt safe
putting Simmons in goal for three quarters against the Santa
Barbara B team, where she made a couple of saves and allowed only
one goal.

Cal was the first team UCLA has faced that was able to score
against the Bruins enough to stay in the game. Earlier this season
USC scored eight goals against UCLA, but the Bruins scored 18 in
that game, and most of USC’s goals were scored long after the
result was in question. Comments to
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