Women’s water polo sweeps UCLA Invitational with four wins
In its opening tournament of the season, UCLA women’s water polo outscored its opponents 69-19 to sweep the weekend.
By Joshua Zarouri
Jan. 21, 2014 12:57 a.m.
This weekend, spectators at the Spieker Aquatics Center witnessed a show as the UCLA women’s water polo team put on a clinic for the fans that demonstrated how hard it had been working in the offseason.
As if they were on Broadway, the Bruins looked like they had rehearsed their every move, executing their game plan every step of the way.
The team led the entire weekend, for four straight games, giving it a 4-0 record to start the season. UCLA defeated Concordia University 25-6, Cal Baptist 15-4, CSU Bakersfield 14-3 and Loyola Marymount 15-6, sweeping the field at the UCLA Invitational. The team got contributions from everyone and coach Brandon Brooks was pleased to see the team’s talent coming to fruition.
“I think we have good talented players who are working together well,” Brooks said.
Freshman standout and utility Mackenzie Barr said she believes that the team’s success this weekend came because of its speed. UCLA scored its goals by beating the other teams down the pool and lobbing the ball over the top of the defense.
“We really pressed, tried to counter and play good defense,” Barr said. “I think that was where most of our goals came from because we’re a fast team.”
In the opener against Concordia, Barr led the team with four goals and was a focal point of the offense throughout the weekend, something that didn’t seem to fluster the freshman one bit.
“I’ve played with a lot of these girls before,” Barr said. “We know how each other plays so it’s fun playing with everyone.”
The players said they were happy that they earned victories this weekend, however Brooks reiterated to them that they merely took care of business and haven’t won anything yet.
“We started off well, and we expect to be a very good team, and this of course is a step forward,” Brooks said.
After holding opponents to a total of 19 goals the whole weekend, redshirt junior goalkeeper Sami Hill gave all the credit to a strong defensive effort from her teammates.
“It always makes my job easier when I have a good defense in front of me,” Hill said. “They played really well and helped me make the blocks I need to make.”
As someone who has been around the team for four years, Hill was excited by how well the team worked together and thought of the invitational as a good measuring stick for the Bruins.
“It’s kind of like trial and error out there, and I think we did really well on all the things that we set out in our game plan,” Hill said.
After starting off the season with four victories, the Bruins continue to point to teamwork and staying within their roles as the key going forward.
“I thought everybody played their role well,” Brooks said. “The reason we had good results is that everyone did their job.”
