Women’s water polo defeats Cal, advances to NCAA championship game
Junior attacker Rachel Fattal helped UCLA defeat a fourth-seeded California, powering the Bruins to a 9-5 win and a spot in the NCAA title match. (Austin Yu/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Nicole Becannon
May 9, 2015 9:08 p.m.
PALO ALTO — During the NCAA semifinal game, the California Golden Bears were closing in on UCLA women’s water polo’s lead with three consecutive goals. In the third quarter, an exclusion on the Bears gave the Bruins a six-on-five advantage and the ball settled into the hands of junior Rachel Fattal.
The attacker’s skip shot banked off the top post and landed right behind Cal goalkeeper Madeline Trabucco. In the next 63 seconds, junior attacker Kodi Hill also had something to say about the Bears’ attempt to tie up the game as she drove in her second goal of the game to put the Bruins ahead 6-3.
“Just bear down. Stay with what we’re doing. It’s worked so far,” said coach Brandon Brooks. “(Cal has) two of the best shooters in the world in (Roser) Tarrago and (Dora) Antal. You can’t always stop them, but we take those opportunities. They scored a good goal and we regroup – go back at it.”
From that point on, No. 1 UCLA would not give No. 3 Cal that opportunity again, maintaining a solid lead to the very end. The Bruins defeated the Bears by a score of 9-5, putting UCLA in the NCAA finals tomorrow at Avery Aquatic Center.
Fattal and Hill were collectively responsible for five of UCLA’s nine goals and both players executed defensively as well. Brooks said the two attackers played a key role on the team, both in this game and for the whole season.
“Kodi and Rachel get the task of usually guarding the other teams’ two best perimeter players,” Brooks said. “Kodi’s a lot of times like our point guard. I’m confident playing them almost the whole game knowing they’re going to be solid and be able to convert. I expect so much and they deliver so much.”
Fattal, who is no stranger to scoring hat tricks, attributes her three goals to the effort of her teammates. “As always, my team really opened me up,” Fattal said.
“I can’t do anything without my teammates. They open me up, they pass the ball to me – I’m just lucky enough to be able to shoot it.”
This win sends UCLA into the NCAA championship game against No. 2 Stanford tomorrow evening. The matchup between the two perennial powerhouses will decide who will come home with the NCAA title.
“Obviously it’s been our goal all season to be in that championship game,” said Hill. “We’re just focusing on ourselves and trying to get better each game and I think it’s really exciting. It’s exactly where we want to be.”
