W. water polo: Women’s water polo narrowly obtains victory

Though the UCLA women’s water polo team was leading host
Loyola Marymount 4-1 with three minutes remaining in
Wednesday’s match, the Bruins struggled to hang on for a 4-3
victory.

During a defensive struggle that saw center defender Lauren
Heineck receive two ejections in the first two possessions, the
play of Katie Flanagan and the rest of the bench provided the
defensive pressure needed to win. But it was close.

“Our bench really did a nice job,” coach Adam
Krikorian said. “Both Katie and Paloma (Slezak) stepped up
and filled in Lauren’s shoes well, defending with tenacity
and being aggressive defensively.”

Two goals from Molly Cahill and one apiece from Jenna Murphy and
Kristina Kunkel gave the third-ranked Bruins the 4-1 lead. But with
the match seemingly in hand, the inexperience of the Bruin players
kicked in.

In a span of less than two minutes, the UCLA defense relaxed and
allowed No. 7 LMU to score two goals, bringing the Lions to within
one.

With the momentum strongly on LMU’s side, the Lions called
a time-out with 37 seconds left to plan for the last shot and a
chance to send the game into overtime.

With the game on the line, the Bruins turned to goalkeeper Emily
Feher to shut the door on LMU’s attempts at evening the
score. Feher ended the game with eight saves, helping the Bruins
improve their record to 17-4.

“We have to be able to close teams out and be able to put
away teams when they’re down,” Krikorian said.
“We need to do a better job of making a consistent effort for
28 minutes and learn to close teams out when we have them on the
ropes.”

The Bruins continue play Friday in a conference match against UC
Irvine.