UCLA water polo prepares for Princeton Invitational

Fifty-four.

That was the point differential between No. 1 UCLA men’s water polo and the five teams it beat in the season’s first weekend.

Against the three teams they are scheduled to play in non-scrimmage games at the upcoming Princeton Invitational, the Bruins’ overall record is a combined 16-0.

Nevertheless, the consistent levelheaded approach that defines coach Adam Wright’s team hasn’t wavered. Everyone sticks to the program, even those who are anticipating just their second weekend of collegiate water polo in New Jersey.

“We just have to (buckle) down, every single one, one by one,” said freshman attacker Jake Simpson. “Can’t get ahead of ourselves, we just have to work hard and keep practicing.”

Simpson scored seven goals last weekend, the second most for the Bruins, only behind senior attacker Ryder Roberts, who had eight. His freshman teammate attacker James Vlachonassios added five of his own.

“Practicing with these guys and really preparing all summer got me to the point where I was ready to play. Everything was expected,” Simpson said. “I was ready to just play into the system and everything just fell into place, so it’s getting there, and it’s going to keep progressing and getting better and better.”

If the numbers show anything, it’s that the focus for UCLA over the last tournament was getting everyone experience and playing time so that everyone was on the same page.

Wright said before San Diego kicked off the end of the preseason that he can only wonder exactly where his team is at, and never really knows for certain until it is tested. Given the point spread, his team wasn’t really tested last week, but that didn’t stop him from noticing the early strengths and weaknesses of this year’s team.

“I know exactly where we’re at, there’s a lot of work to do,” Wright said. “There were some positives for sure, some new guys getting experience out there, and then there were some negatives too.”

The team only had two days of practice this week, but put emphasis on man-up opportunities, something the Bruins constantly worked on last year as well.

A scrimmage last weekend against No. 5 Stanford gave them a game setting to help work on that more, and UCLA’s first match in Princeton will also be another scrimmage. It will be against the No. 3 California Golden Bears, the first time they will see each other since the Bears pushed the Bruins to double overtime in the 2015 MPSF championship game.

Most of the matchups between top-ranked schools like Cal, Stanford, USC, Pacific and UCLA before the annual Kap7 NorCal Invitational are scrimmages, and they have been for some time, according to Wright.

The national championship tournament with its at-large bids puts a lot of pressure on teams to perform well against each other, and so high-profile teams schedule scrimmages rather than actual recorded matches to gain the experience without being subject to a loss that could prove consequential when the selection process begins.

“What (the scrimmages) do give us is the ability to get more experience,” Wright said. “That’s one thing that’s hard is development within a season because one game can be the difference every year, so it gives you the chance to develop and see some new guys out there against a higher level opponent.”

After the scrimmage against Cal on Friday, UCLA will also scrimmage No. 13 Brown on Saturday before three official matches against No. 16 Johns Hopkins, No. 11 Princeton and No. 20 St. Francis Brooklyn.

The average point differential over each? Since Wright took over in 2009, 12 against the Blue Jays, 13 against the Tigers and 11 against the Terriers.