Men’s Polo Notebook
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 10, 2001 9:00 p.m.
Moving on up in the world of water polo
The UCLA men’s water polo team remains near the pinnacle
of the ranks this week moving up to No. 2 behind top-ranked
Stanford. After starting the season at No. 3, the Bruins (5-1, 3-0
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) move up a spot thanks to their
7-5 defeat of the Trojans last weekend. It is all good around the
pool, but rankings mean very little right now.
“If we (are still) ranked in the top two after the NorCal
Tournament, we will be happy,” head coach Adam Krikorian
said.
The Bruins face four more teams this weekend, and it is
imperative that they win at least three of the four to remain atop
the ranks. After this weekend, the season will be half way done and
rankings will be very important going into the MPSF
championship.
Team making its way to NCAA Final Four
The team is ecstatic about being in the top of their conference,
despite losing to Stanford (5-0, 3-0). UCLA is 3-0 in conference
match-ups and look forward to staying perfect for the rest of the
season. They are tied for first with Stanford, but the
Cardinal’s perfect non-conference record puts them ahead of
the Bruins.
Only the top two teams in the conference go to the NCAA
championships.
“This is our goal,” senior driver Jeff Pfleuger
said. “It’s what we needed to do.”
Players re-robed after fix of NCAA
violation
The team received their new white embroidered robes this week.
These replace the team’s old robes, which bore the
school’s colors. The team needed new robes because the team
was in violation of an NCAA regulation. The Adidas logo was
stitched into the old robes, and it is illegal to be endorsed by
any company. People feel contentment, not excitement, at finally
having the new robes.
“We will take them, but they don’t have
hoods,” sophomore driver Nick Pacelli said. “We want
our (old) blue and yellow robes.”
Keeping Trojans down where they belong
With a win over the Trojans last week, the Bruins jumped ahead
in their quest to secure five points towards the Lexus Cup. Though
most of the players are unsure of all the logistics of this
tournament, they are thrilled that they could help, including
junior two-meter defenseman Dan Yielding.
“Anything to keep the Trojans below the Bruins, we will
continue to do our part,” he said.
UCLA plays USC in men’s water polo once more this year,
not counting possible games in tournaments and playoffs.
The reason they took it to “˜SC
Freshman driver Brett Ormsby has taken the Bruins by storm. He
has stepped up as UCLA’s main shooter, averaging almost a hat
trick per game with a total of 17 goals this season ““
including four against USC this past weekend. For that, he has been
named Mikasa/MPSF Player of the Week.
“That is why we brought him here,” assistant coach
Matt Armato said. “We knew he would be a weapon.”
Notes compiled by Adam Titcher, Daily Bruin Contributor.
