Women’s water polo posts win and loss in doubleheader against Stanford

Just one goal separated the Bruins and the Cardinal when the clock hit triple zeroes in both games this weekend.

Junior utility Katrina Drake’s last-ditch effort fell just short at the buzzer Saturday, but it was redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Georgia Phillips who stonewalled a flurry of game-tying attempts as the final period came to a close Sunday.

No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (5-1, 3-1 MPSF) ended its seven-game losing streak against No. 2 Stanford (6-2, 4-2) with an 11-10 victory Sunday at Avery Aquatic Center after its comeback attempt Saturday fell just short in a 12-11 defeat. The win marked the Bruins’ first over the Cardinal since 2017.

Coach Adam Wright said defeating the defending NCAA champions will serve his team well as the season progresses.

“They’re an incredible program and a program that they say we’ve been kind of chasing after for a while,” Wright said. “We’ve had a lot of adversity to deal with this weekend and to find a way to win after what we’ve been through as a group over the last couple of days was huge.”

UCLA started its weekend by giving up a 4-1 run in the first quarter Saturday. The Cardinal capitalized on a 7-3 advantage in first-half exclusions drawn, holding a 7-5 lead at halftime before the Bruins ultimately clawed back to tie the game at eight goals apiece. It proved to be too little too late, however, as UCLA failed to even the score in the final stanza.

Sunday’s start was the opposite of the previous day’s beginning, with the Bruins jumping out to a 4-1 lead to open the game and handing the Cardinal their first home deficit all season.

“We knew that we could play better, and I think that’s kind of what fueled the fire (Sunday),” said freshman attacker Malia Allen.

But it wasn’t a wire-to-wire victory for UCLA, which fended off multiple comeback attempts from Stanford. The Bruins saw a 9-4 lead evaporate behind a 5-0 run from its opposition in the third and fourth quarters, but the blue and gold found a go-ahead goal 18 seconds later to give the team a lead it would not relinquish.

Allen said the team found a way to settle in defensively, as UCLA allowed just two goals in the fourth quarter.

“One of our captains, our leaders of the team, just reminded us that it’s one stop at a time, one possession at a time,” Allen said.

Despite the defensive stand to cap off the victory, Wright said his team lacked fundamental defensive positioning at times during the weekend. UCLA committed 23 total exclusions over the two-game stretch compared to just 14 from Stanford.

Thirteen of the Bruins’ exclusions came in Saturday’s game, with junior attacker Val Ayala fouling out of the game just seconds into the second half, and sophomore attacker Hannah Palmer joining her teammate on the bench with three exclusions later in the game.

Trying to respond to Stanford’s style of play instead of playing UCLA water polo Saturday, Palmer said the team was able to turn that narrative around on day two.

“We definitely fed into playing Stanford’s game of just being super grabby,” Palmer said. “We weren’t playing our style of play really (Saturday). And I think we did a better job of doing that (Sunday). Obviously, not every possession was perfect, but I do think we did a very good job of just letting them do what they wanted to do, and we were doing what we wanted to do.”

Allen – one of four Bruins to not register an exclusion in either game this weekend – needed just one half to record her first career hat trick Sunday, leading her team outright in goals for the first time all season.

“I think the biggest thing is it was nice to see her approach today versus yesterday,” Wright said. “She really wavered with her confidence yesterday, and Malia is a good player and a good shooter. And for her to turn it around from yesterday to today and just how she approached today, not because she scored it, just that she was believing in herself – that’s the big thing.”

UCLA also received contributions from two of its second-year players in Sunday’s win despite last year’s leading scorer, sophomore utility Abbi Hill, failing to register a point all weekend. Phillips stopped 12 shots – including the game-tying attempt in the victory – after tallying a season-low five saves in the loss Saturday.

Meanwhile, Palmer, despite shooting 1-of-5 from the pool and fouling out on Saturday, recorded two goals and an assist to pair with three steals in the second game of the doubleheader.

“Just being a sophomore and just having that one year under my wing from last year, it is a little easier to step up,” Palmer said. “I don’t feel like a scared little freshman playing in a big game.”

After participating in just six contests over the first six weeks of the season, UCLA will take on No. 17 San Jose State twice next weekend in the first of six games in 13 days.