Despite win, water polo has tough weekend

The No. 2 UCLA men’s water polo team’s 1-1 weekend
was as damaging as a .500 weekend can be. In two conference games
against two teams they should have defeated, UCLA lost to No. 9
Long Beach State 6-5 Friday and beat No. 12 UC Santa Barbara 8-6
Saturday.

Friday’s loss assured the Bruins (11-7, 3-4 Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation) that the trek to the NCAAs will go
through the conference tournament, as an at-large bid seemingly
vanished after Friday’s debacle.

“It puts us in the position where we have to win the
conference tournament,” said head coach Adam Krikorian.
“We still have two games left, but ultimately our focus will
be on the conference tournament.”

Long Beach State pounced on the sluggish Bruins early with three
unachieved first quarter goals. The Bruins seemed a completely
different team than had dominated then-No. 5 UC Irvine the previous
weekend.

UCLA’s shots were rushed and they could not stop
LBSU’s six-on-five offense, led by three goals from
team-leading scorer sophomore two-meter Erik Geoffroy. Three times
the Bruins clawed within reach of a goal, but they could never tie
it up, as LBSU repeatedly scored key goals to build on their early
momentum.

“It was evident in the first few minutes that we were not
ready to play,” said assistant coach Matt Armato. “We
had no energy until after the first half. Plain and simple this
team doesn’t know how to prepare for games.”

Krikorian added, “We tried to beat them with solely our
arms. We don’t have the group of shooters to do that. We need
to use our speed and defense.”

Though Friday’s loss cast a long shadow over the weekend,
the Bruins still managed to save some face in beating UCSB. This
time the Bruin scored three in the first quarter, all of them by
sophomore driver Brett Ormsby. They proceeded to cruise to a 7-2
lead behind two goals by freshman center defender Mike March
heading into the fourth quarter.

However, the Bruins were again plagued by poor fourth quarter
play, allowing four goals and a near-miraculous comeback by
UCSB.

“We played very well in the first and third
quarters,” said Krikorian. “But in the fourth we were
true to our form.”

Nevertheless, the win gave the Bruins something other than
Friday’s game to think about as they concentrate on making it
to the NCAAs.

“If we would have had to wait a week before playing again,
it would have been awful,” said Armato. “The guys were
trying to get over yesterday and came ready to play.”

Unfortunately, the Bruins have no more time to use losses as
lessons for the future. The season has only two games left, and
then comes the crucial conference tournament where the Bruins will
need to come ready and be ready every quarter lest they be sent
home without the NCAA appearance that the Bruins make nearly every
year.

“We need to use this as a wake-up call,” said
Krikorian. “I’m not a big believer in losing being good
for you, but you have to try to make it a positive thing. We
can’t hide from the fact that this weekend was a
disaster.”