The undefeated Bruins are heading into their final month of play before the MPSF championship tournament.

After a weekend off, No. 1 UCLA women’s water polo (18-0, 3-0 MPSF) will face off against No. 3 Stanford (14-3, 2-0) at Spieker Aquatics Center on Saturday. The Bruins defeated the Cardinal earlier in the season in a 9-6 third-round win at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational before going on to win the tournament.

“Everybody’s getting better, everybody’s going to be better than the last time we saw them, and our hope, too, is we’ll be better,” said coach Adam Wright.

UCLA last played March 17 against San Jose State, in which it took home a 16-8 victory and featured a hat-trick by sophomore attacker Taylor Smith.

Smith said the team has been utilizing its time to prepare in-depth for its match against Stanford.

“Last week was a little stressful just with finals, but we put in some good, hard trainings,” Smith said. “This week, it’s been really nice not having school. We can all focus on each other and the team, and that’s let us have a really good week’s worth of practice.”

Wright added that these breaks create opportunities for growth.

“There are periods of time where you go multiple weeks without games, but it allows recovery,” Wright said. “It also allows you a lot of time to work on the areas that you got to keep getting better at.”

The Stanford match will begin UCLA’s run of three games against top-five ranked competition leading up to the MPSF tournament. UCLA will go up against No. 5 California and No. 3 USC later in April.

Freshman utility Natasha Kieckhafer has helped the team with her 12 goals and eight assists this season, with a hat-trick performance to help secure a 13-8 victory over then-No. 14 ASU.

As the Bruins enter this final month of regular season play, Kieckhafer said the team’s mindset is focused on consistency.

“Going into these last couple games and into the end of the season, we just want to stay where we’re at and be consistent and finish through,” Kieckhafer said.

Smith said the success of the team is due to the players’ bonds with each other.

“We’ve come out with a lot of energy this year, but, at the same time, we’re having a lot of fun and working really hard,” Smith said. “Throughout this whole season, I think we’ve really been building relationships and trust in the pool with each other, which has given us a lot of confidence.”

The Bruins will look to defend their undefeated standing at home Saturday.