W. polo: Women’s water polo’s confidence blossoms

The UCLA women’s water polo team has overcome its youth to
mature into a confident unit that quietly goes on with the business
of winning.

Without a single upperclassman on its roster, the young Bruins
lacked identity early on in the season. After losses against
national powers University of Southern California and Stanford,
coach Adam Krikorian searched to find the personality of his young
team. As the season has progressed, the time and dedication put
into practices, as well as the increasing trust among players, has
allowed the inexperienced bunch to succeed.

“I am a firm believer that you got to go through some
rough times before you get to heaven,” Krikorian
said. “We went through (our) rough times and we
struggled, but in the end all those things added more character and
more determination to this team and to these players as
individuals.”

Lacking any veteran experience due to the year-long absence of
several Olympic-bound players, these freshmen and sophomores were
expected to learn quickly. As defending NCAA champions,
expectations were high, and initially many Bruins had trouble
living up to them.

“We lacked Bruin pride in the beginning because we were
young,” freshman driver Jenna Murphy said. “However, we
stuck together. We were all going through the same
experiences.”

Now, during a one-month tear amid an extended winning streak,
these Bruins have slowly but surely surprised many doubters and
positioned themselves for a high seed in the MPSF Championships. If
the Bruins defeat Stanford on Saturday, they will clinch the No. 2
seed.

This confidence reached its highwater mark on April 10 against
the high-powered offense of the No. 4 Long Beach State. After the
49ers closed to within one goal of UCLA at 3-2 in the beginning of
the second half, the Bruins relied on their defense and freshman
goalkeeper Emily Feher to kill the fire of the Long Beach
offense.

Feher, the reigning MPSF Player of the Week, is just one of a
host of youngsters who have performed admirably lately. Sophomores
Kristina Kunkel and Lauren Heineck also have been honored with the
award.

In spite of some early season struggles, the young Bruins seem
to be hitting their stride.

“We’re not flashy in the things that we do,”
Krikorian said. “We don’t like to draw a lot of
attention to ourselves, we just go about our business and get the
job done.”

What was seen early on as quiet confusion in a team lacking
identity has now turned into a personality of quiet confidence.