No. 1 UCLA women’s water polo spreads the wealth in 17-3 win over CSUB
Freshman attacker Nicole Reynolds was one of 10 different Bruins to score in UCLA’s 17-3 rout of Cal State Bakersfield Saturday. (Daily Bruin file photo)
Women's water polo
| No. 1 UCLA | 17 |
| Cal State Bakersfield | 3 |
By Savannah Shapiro
March 17, 2015 2:54 a.m.
It took the Bruins almost seven minutes after the start of Saturday’s game before they got one shot to go. With 1:17 to play in the first quarter, senior attacker Emily Donohoe sent a shot soaring into the top-right corner of the net, tying the game at 1-1.
The slow-paced tempo of the first quarter would be short-lived. Starting early in the second, UCLA began to score with a much higher frequency en route to trouncing Cal State Bakersfield 17-3 Saturday.
“I think the first quarter we were getting our nerves out,” said freshman attacker Nicole Reynolds. “We all just wanted to do really well. After that, we just took a breath, knew that we could play, and just played our game.”
During the second quarter, the No. 1 Bruins (17-1, 3-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) came out with more assertion, changing the pace of the game and dominating the unranked Roadrunners. Adding six goals to the score, UCLA led CSU Bakersfield 8-2 by halftime.
From then on, it was all UCLA. The Bruins added nine second-half goals while holding the Roadrunners to just one.
“As the game went on, we got more and more comfortable,” said coach Brandon Brooks. “We put up good shots, which I am happy about. I like to see us always carry that confidence.”
UCLA was able to rotate fresh bodies throughout the game, as many reserves were able to see increased playing time. The Bruins spread the scoring across the board, as 10 players were able to find the net.
CSU Bakersfield attempted to break UCLA’s strong defense by taking multiple backhand shots, but were unable to prevail.
“Defensively, we gave up two goals in the first half and then one goal the rest of the game,” Brooks said. “Being able to play everyone and to not have a drop off defensively is important.”
Freshman utility player Alexis Angermund, who had multiple defensive stops in Saturday’s game, said she was happy with her and her team’s performance.
“It’s really exciting (to be 3-0 in MPSF),” Angermund said. “It’s my freshman year and my first time doing this, so to come into a team that’s so ready to go and having our seniors leading us is really cool.”
