This post was updated March 13 at 12:01 p.m.

A visit from the undefeated 2005 national championship squad may have been the spark the 2025 Bruins needed to return to their winning ways.

After succumbing to its first regular-season losing streak since March 2023, No. 4 UCLA women’s water polo (11-3, 1-0 MPSF) bested No. 6 Fresno State (7-6, 1-0 GCC) 24-11 in the team’s home opener at Spieker Aquatics Center.

Fifteen-time national champion Adam Krikorian, who coached the 2005 team, was also in attendance. Like Adam Wright, who has coached both UCLA men’s and women’s water polo since 2017, Krikorian coached both the men’s and women’s teams from 1999 to 2008 – and even coached Wright himself.

“Our history is incredible, and we’re trying to fight our way back there,” Wright said. “To be able to play in front of them, we had a tough weekend last week. The style that we can play was good. It was good to have the intensity that we did today.”

When Wright’s crew went 26-0 to win the national championship last season, it was the Bruins’ first perfect campaign since Krikorian’s 2005 squad. However, the former’s opportunity to repeat the feat has been lost this season, with the Bruins most recently dropping consecutive games Feb. 22 and Feb. 23 – which included their worst defeat by score differential since 2021.

“We needed to focus on our game,” Wright said. “Our transition last weekend was nonexistent, which put those teams in a position to be successful.”

After losing back-to-back matchups against No. 1 Stanford and then-No. 5 Hawai‘i by a combined 13 points at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational last weekend, UCLA rallied to achieve its second-highest point total and margin of victory of the season against Fresno State. Of its 34 scoring attempts, the Bruins missed only 10.

“We have a well-balanced team,” Wright said. “We have a great middle of the pool where teams are going to have to come back. Then we got to make some decisions on how we want to approach the goal.”

After scoring just five against the Rainbow Warriors, 11 Bruins found the back of the net against the Bulldogs. Spearheading the offense was redshirt junior attacker Emma Lineback, tying her career-high with five scores off six shots.

“We were stepping in with confidence,” Lineback said. “Our communication – telling people when it was their shot and that person having the confidence to step in – helped us. Our performance on defense helped fuel our attack. Our counter-attack today was good. It’s improved a lot since last weekend.”

Alongside Lineback was junior center Bia Mantellato, whose five goals were the highest tally for the Hawai‘i transfer since the team’s season-opener against then-No. 15 UC Davis on Jan. 25. Overall, six Bruins recorded multi-score performances – three of which scored three or more.

“The transition, we got to keep doing that,” Wright said. “That sets us up to play better defense. The communication, too. When we communicate, we play as a team. When we don’t, we’re individuals, and that makes it tough.”

While the 2005 team watches from the stands and many of the 2024 Bruins find themselves in the pool again, it’s up to the current squad to determine how the 2025 season will be remembered. Not only did Lineback nearly set a career-high in goals, sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Steele garnered a season-high in saves. The 2024 ACWPC National Player of the Year bested her previous-best 14 saves with almost an entire quarter of play left against Fresno State, finishing with 18.

“As a goalie, you can’t let your thoughts spin too much,” Steele said. “You got to focus on the ball and take it one defensive stop at a time. Also, my communication and us talking out every defensive possession was helpful.”

The Bruins contained the Bulldogs’ attack to 11 points on a 28.9 shooting percentage, an improvement from the two teams’ previous face-off Jan. 26, when Fresno State amassed 14 goals on a 46.7% clip.

“The history of UCLA water polo is defense, and things go from there,” Wright said.

In addition, the Bruins forced 12 turnovers to go alongside nine steals.

“We put more pressure on their main shooters,” Steele said. “We knew who they were, and we were able to talk it out more and force them to feed us with other players, instead of letting their best shooters have a ton of goals.”

On Jan. 26, Fresno State attacker Hailey Andress delivered a tied team-high five goals against UCLA. However, the Bruins contained her to a 2-for-11 outing Saturday.

While the Bruins honored some of the women that came before them at halftime, this year’s team will still have the rest of the season to do what their 2005 predecessors did – hoist a national championship trophy.

“Today was great for us to get a win, especially at home in front of the alumni,” Lineback said. “We’re building week by week, training by training. Bringing the intensity and the energy we brought this week is what’s going to help us improve even more next week.”