ONLINE EXTRA: Women’s Water polo recap

By Colin Yuhl
Daily Bruin Contributor

It was a tale of two very different games. On Friday, the UCLA
women’s water polo pummeled Pacific 20-4. Twenty-four hours
later, the Bruins won a hotly contested match against No.4
California 8-4.

As expected, Cal played physically aggressive and stuck close to
UCLA early. The Golden Bears had a 3-2 lead going into the third
quarter, but UCLA, led by veterans Robin Beuregard and Kelly
Heuchan, went on a four goal tear to finish the period with a two
goal lead.

“They were playing a lot of zone, which kind of caught us
off guard. But at the same time, we just missed a lot of
opportunities, couldn’t find the back of the net,”
Krikorian said.

The Bruins finally converted on their scoring chances, and shut
out Cal in the fourth, getting a huge win over a conference foe in
their final home game of the season.

The team now looks forward to another crucial game against USC.
The Bruins’ crosstown rival recently upset No.1 Stanford, so
this year’s rivalry game takes on special significance.
Whomever wins will likely be conference champion and take the top
seed for the conference tournament. But, the players know not to
think too hard, regardless of how critical the game may be.

“We take it for the rivalry it is,” Beuregard said.
“We go out, play hard, and beat “˜SC.”

Against Pacific, Thalia Munroe and Mari Joyce both netted hat
tricks as the Bruin offense rolled all over a weak Pacific defense.
UCLA used a 6-0 run in the third quarter to give the Bruins a 14-3
lead and secure the victory.

“It just goes to show how well rounded we are,”
Robin Beuregard said. “No single player dominates the
offense.”

Head coach Adam Krikorian gave credit to his bench, as well.

“Our second unit played extremely well…when they came in
we didn’t skip a beat,” he said.