Bruins prove mettle in sweep of Bay Area schools

  PATIL ARMENIAN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff No. 9
Kyle Baumgarner attempts to intercept a pass to a
Princeton player during a win over the Tigers in September.

By Steven Romero

Daily Bruin Contributor

The top-ranked UCLA men’s water polo team completed the
sweep of the Bay Area schools this weekend, handily defeating the
California Golden Bears 11-5 on Saturday and registering a
come-from-behind 8-7 overtime win against the Stanford Cardinal on
Sunday.

“We jumped out to an early lead (against No. 4
Cal),” senior 2-meter man Sean Kern said. “It was one
of those hitting on all cylinders-type things.”

But the same could not be said of the game against the
sixth-ranked Cardinal.

“We lacked the emotion that Stanford had,” Kern
said. “We never did get it, it was kind of one of those
“˜blah’ games.”

On Saturday, the Bruins (10-2 overall, 5-0 Mountain Pacific
Sports Federation) traveled to Cal to face the Golden Bears (6-5,
2-2) in an MPSF showdown. The Bruins gained the early advantage
with goals by Brian Brown, Dave Parker and Andrew Bailey in the
first quarter and never relinquished their lead throughout the
match.

“Dave Parker played his best game of the year. He got us
going by scoring the first goal and also had a lot of great
passes,” said Adam Krikorian, UCLA’s head coach.

Although the Bears cut the deficit to 3-2 early in the second
quarter, it was the closest they would come to the Bruins. UCLA
scored four more goals and allowed Cal only one in the remainder of
the quarter for a 7-3 halftime advantage.

The second half also belonged to the Bruins. UCLA outscored Cal
4-2 in the third and fourth quarters to put the game out of reach
for the Golden Bears.

UCLA was led defensively by sophomore goalie Brandon Brooks.
Brooks had 12 saves, including two blocks on four-meter penalty
shots by Cal.

“Brandon played great,” Krikorian said.
“He’s proven to be a gamer. The blocks on the penalty
shots really let the air out of the Bears.”

Meanwhile, the offense was paced by a balanced attack. Brown
scored three goals while Matt Flesher, Adam Wright, and Parker also
contributed two goals apiece.

On Sunday, the Bruins showed their grit as they rallied twice
from three-goal deficits versus Stanford (6-6). The Cardinal opened
the game with a 3-0 run against the Bruins in the first
quarter.

“We were down from the get-go,” Krikorian said.
“The great thing about this game was that, for the past three
to four weeks, we’ve been jumping on teams. So, for us to
start shaky, be down 3-0 and come back showed a lot of character
and a lot of heart.”

The team came out flat, according to the players.

“Our struggles caused the game to be so close,” Kern
said.

The team was disappointed, he added, but not discouraged by the
deficit they had to overcome.

“Everybody was yelling, “˜Come on,'” Kern
said, “trying to fire us up.”

Late in the first period, Brown finally broke through with a
goal for UCLA. Stanford added another goal in the second period for
the Cardinal’s second three-goal advantage of the match. But
UCLA responded with two goals before halftime to cut the deficit to
4-3.

“Every time they jumped on us, we came back,”
Krikorian said.

Down 7-5 going into the fourth quarter, Wright took the team on
his shoulders. His two goals in the final period and his team
leading 24th and 25th of the season, sent the game into two
overtime periods.

“Adam’s our leader. He just comes through in the
clutch,” Krikorian said. “We had to turn it on in the
second half and Adam was the key to that. He played the entire game
and showed what he was made of in the fourth quarter.”

The Bruins shut out Stanford in overtime and Kern scored the
final goal of the contest with 1:35 remaining in the first overtime
period, giving the Bruins their first lead.

“We wanted to score the first overtime goal. We are very
confident in our defense,” Krikorian said.

This weekend was important in other ways besides just adding
more numbers to the win column of UCLA’s record.

“We’ve been coming out the past month or so and just
dominating teams in the first quarter,” Brooks said.
“(Against Stanford) we gained experience, knowing we can be
behind in the game and still pull ahead.”

The Bruins now head to the Northern California Tournament in
Stockton beginning Saturday,

Oct. 21.

With contributions by Pauline Vu, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.