Every year, most teams enter the MPSF tournament in do-or-die mode. Most years the UCLA men’s water polo team is not among those teams – but this year it is.
If the No. 4 Bruins (13-7, 4-4 MPSF) do not win the three-day tournament over Thanksgiving weekend, their season will most likely be over.
However, UCLA does have momentum coming off of two straight wins, including a 12-10 defeat of USC last Saturday, the team’s opponent in game one of the tournament on Friday at the USA Water Polo National Aquatic Center on the Joint Force Training Base in Los Alamitos.
The game on Friday against USC “is going to be a totally different ballgame,” senior center defender Matt Flesher said.
“Five minutes after Saturday’s game we forgot about it because it was meaningless and began focusing on Friday,” he said.
With a win Friday, the Bruins’ Saturday matchup would likely be with No. 1 Pepperdine, against whom the Bruins had their most heartbreaking loss of the year on Oct. 12, falling 7-6 in four overtimes.
With a win Saturday, it is pure speculation about a finals opponent, though it would likely be either No. 2 Stanford or No. 3 Cal.
However, none of these scenarios will play out without a win Friday.
“Both of us have had two weeks to prepare for this game,” senior center defender Dan Yeilding said. “It is going to be a really tough game.”
While many would label the Bruins’ regular-season record a disappointment, the team did periodically reveal flashes of brilliance, which if summoned for a string of games, is powerful enough to drive them to another NCAA championship.
On the other hand, the team has also showed a knack for folding in important games, an act they absolutely cannot afford, even for one more quarter.
Which UCLA team emerges this weekend will undoubtedly determine the Bruins fate.
“This year the tournament has more of a sense of urgency,” Flesher said. “I’m hoping we’re practicing next Monday. I’ve never experienced a season we haven’t been in the final.”
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First-year center defender Michael March was named MPSF Player of the Week for his career-high four goals in the second half against USC. Senior goalkeeper Brandon Brooks needs 23 more saves to become the Bruins’ all-time saves leader and surpass Matt Swanson’s record of 695.