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No. 2M. water polo nets important win over Cal

By Daily Bruin Staff

Oct. 27, 1996 9:00 p.m.

Monday, October 28, 1996

By Greg Calvert

Daily Bruin Contributor

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Northern California, and
No. 2 UCLA left town enjoying the sun after knocking off
fourth-ranked California in a crucial Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation match.

The game was extremely close, but with 27 seconds left in
overtime, Jim Toring netted a penalty shot that put the Bruins on
top, 9-8. UCLA improved their record to 17-1, and now remain
undefeated in conference play (4-0). The Golden Bears dropped to
9-6, 4-4 in the MPSF.

"We’re back," UCLA head coach Guy Baker said, in a post-game
meeting with his Bruin squad. "We showed the most heart I’ve seen
all season."

Senior Corbin Graham came out ready to play. His two goals in
the first period gave the Bruins an early edge, and his aggressive
offense was a constant thorn in the Bears’ side.

"It was brutal," Graham said. "It’s tough to play in Nor Cal.
This is the only time we are scheduled to play Cal, and whoever won
was going to have a season advantage."

In an extremely physical game, UCLA lost three holemen by the
first play of overtime. Key players Luther Weidner, Jeremy
Braxton-Brown and Brian Bent were all ejected from the game, and
the Bruins dropped into a zone defense where Graham came up
big.

Senior driver Jim Toring was named MPSF Player of the Week last
week, and his relentless efforts against the Bears proved why.
Toring’s four goals and intense play helped the Bruins to remain
focused and confident.

"This game was so big," Toring said. "It was before the football
game, and we had a very large crowd that was vocal. The game will
be on TV, so it was pretty hyped-up.

"We haven’t played (California) since last year’s championship
match, and we were really fired up. We concentrated on what we had
to do instead of reacting to their playing. We needed this win, and
we weren’t going to settle for anything less."

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