Women’s water polo tests waters with newcomers, sweeps second UCSB Invitational
Coach Adam Wright said UCLA women’s water polo has improvements to make despite going 5-0 over ranked teams in its first five games of the season. The Bruins will travel to the Cal Cup this weekend. (Liz Ketcham/Assistant Photo editor)
By Jack Perez
Jan. 24, 2019 1:19 a.m.
The Bruins are still learning to play together, but their first games of the season allowed both veterans and newcomers to lead the Bruins to victories.
No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (5-0) did not drop a game at the UC Santa Barbara Invitational for the second straight year under coach Adam Wright.
The Bruins averaged 10.4 goals a game while holding their opponents to 6.2 goals per game. In last year’s tournament, the team had 11.25 goals per game while allowing 4.25.
Although the Bruins may not have scored at the same rate as last year’s invitational, freshman attacker Val Ayala started her Bruin career by scoring 10 goals in her first five collegiate games. Ayala said the ability of the centers to hold side allowed her to attack the zone defense and find the back of the net.
“One reason I was able to get so many shots off was because our centers were holding a lead position,” Ayala said. “That was forcing the defense to go to the zone a lot. From there, I saw the openings.”
Over the five victories, senior goalie Carlee Kapana had 22 saves and sophomore goalie Jahmea Bent recorded 11 saves. Wright said that although Kapana – a 2018 All-American – could play throughout the season if she needed to, having depth in the net is vital for his team in case of an emergency.
“We have three really great goalkeepers in our program,” Wright said. “As of now, (Kapana) and (Bent) are the ones playing. (Kapana) is our starter, but you never know if something happens.”
While they won every time out, the Bruins did not always have control over their opponents.
UCLA fell behind early against No. 9 Michigan (2-2) as they went in to the second quarter down 2-1. The Bruins took a 5-4 lead before halftime and held on late after the Wolverines came back to make it a one-goal game in the final quarter.
Senior attacker Lizette Rozeboom said some of the Bruins’ close contests may be due to the large number of newcomers on the team, but she is excited by the potential the team has moving forward.
“It’s a lot of new players,” Rozeboom said. “It’s a lot of fun to finally have some games. Obviously it’s early in the season, so we have a lot to work on, but we also had a lot of positives. Overall, I think it was a good start.”
Wright said anytime his team can win against five ranked opponents in a weekend is a positive sign, but his team needs to improve in order to reach its peak performance.
“We can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Wright said. “This was a great opportunity for us to evaluate where we are as a program and as a team. Hopefully we can grow from this and be better next weekend.”
