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UCLA men’s water polo prepares to fight for NCAA bid

Members of the UCLA men’s water polo team reconvene at halftime during the first round of the SoCal Tournament on Oct. 2. UCLA currently sits at 2-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings after beating No. 4 Stanford Friday.

By Daily Bruin Staff

Oct. 19, 2010 12:54 a.m.

Correction: The original version of this article contained an error. California and UC Irvine are both 2-0 in MPSF play.

After beating Stanford Friday night at Spieker Aquatics Center, the UCLA men’s water polo team used its day off to do some scouting.

This week it wasn’t film work, though. The entire team made the trip down the I-10 to McDonald’s Swim Stadium Saturday for the premier Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match of the weekend: No. 1 USC v. No. 2 California.

The result was a bit surprising: The Bears simply dominated the Trojans. They used a 5-1 first quarter to effectively put the game out of reach and went on to win 12-9.

In the process, they defeated a Trojan team that once looked unbeatable at 12-0. The game showed that the MPSF might be wide open this year.

“We thought ‘SC was the better team and they were going to win, but it just goes to show you that it’s anybody’s race right now,” said redshirt senior center Jacob Murphy, who had two goals against Stanford. “It’s anybody’s for the taking.

“More than any season I’ve been a part of, there’s definitely more parity (this year). So it was interesting.”

Cal’s win came one week after it took down UCLA, 11-8, in Berkeley. Now Cal sits atop the MPSF table with a 2-0 record, joining UC Irvine as the only undefeated teams in the conference.

The win is sure to bump the Bears in the Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings that are released each Wednesday.

“That right there might have kind of sealed up them getting the No. 1 spot,” UCLA coach Adam Wright said. “We’ll see, there’s a long ways to go, but I think they’ll have to drop a few games to lose it.”

UCLA (11-3, 2-1 MPSF) will likely remain at No. 3 for a second consecutive week. The Bruins have yet to beat Cal or USC this year, and their only chance to improve their stock comes Nov. 6 at USC.

The Bruins got off to a rough start in conference play by falling to the Bears in Berkeley on Oct. 9, but salvaged their chances by increasing the intensity of their training regimen over the week, and coming back to beat Stanford.

“We’re all competing for an at-large bid, so these games are important,” sophomore attacker Josh Samuels said after beating Stanford. “But at the same time, if we had won at Cal, we can take it a little easier and focus more. But we definitely trained hard this week.”

After watching USC fall, Murphy said he thinks UCLA needs to win the rest of their games ““ first and foremost its matchup against No. 5 UC Irvine Saturday ““ to solidify its chances for the at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.

“We left very encouraged,” Murphy said.

“And came back and practiced for two and a half hours,” he added with a laugh.

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