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Senior Natalie Golda played her last home game for the Bruins, helping lead the team to a victory

On Wednesday afternoon at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, the top-ranked UCLA women’s water polo team further staked its claim to being the greatest women’s water polo team of all time. After uncharacteristically falling behind early in the second quarter to fifth-ranked Long Beach State, the Bruins rallied to defeat the 49ers 12-8 and close out the regular season without a blemish on their record. Senior Natalie Golda, playing in the last home game of her collegiate career, stated that going undefeated during the regular season stood out as another amazing achievement in her four years playing for the Bruins (27-0, 12-0 MPSF). “Going undefeated is an amazing accomplishment,” Golda said. “I’ve really never thought about going undefeated. You always think you’re going to lose one or two games especially in water polo. Anybody can win on any given day.” UCLA coach Adam Krikorian had talked to his team about the possibility of going undefeated before, but this was not the team’s emphasis. “It was mentioned occasionally, but in a casual kind of way,” said Krikorian, whose team became just the second collegiate women’s water polo team to go undefeated during the regular season since the sport was recognized as an official NCAA sport in 2001. “I’m pleased with how the first 27 games went, but we’ve been looking forward to end of the season all year. Going undefeated was not our goal. Winning the national championship is our goal this season.” Early on in the game, it appeared that the 49ers (19-6, 8-3) would foil the Bruins’ perfect record, leading 4-3 late in the second period. But the Bruins managed to prevail with the arm of freshman Gabrielle Domanic, who tallied two of her game-leading four goals in that second period. Her goals gave UCLA a lead it would never relinquish. “We’ve been down before, but we’re really good at keeping composure,” Domanic said. “The game wasn’t over. It was still early, and we knew we still had to keep attacking.” After the early deficit, UCLA went on a 6-1 run with the help of sophomores Molly Cahill and Kelly Rulon, giving the Bruins their largest lead at 10-5 with just one period left.

HEINECK SIGHTING: Junior driver Lauren Heineck, who suffered a concussion during practice nearly a month ago, suited up for Wednesday’s game. Though her health is improved, Krikorian is still uncertain of whether she will be ready to play in time for the conference championships. “We’re going to play it by ear. Hopefully she is,” Krikorian said. “Her head will tell her whether she is or not. “To kind of feel part of the team, it was really good (for Heineck). The girls were excited to see her part of the group, in the lineup.”

With reports from Bryan Chu, Bruin Sports senior staff