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Freshman Lauren Heineck and the Bruins will take on the Lions at the final four in La Jolla.

Water polo beats Trojans, gets bid to NCAA tourney

Raffi Martinian
Published: Wednesday, April 30, 2003

Call it the final four of women’s water polo.

The No. 2 Bruins (21-4) earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament with a second place finish at the MPSF tournament this past weekend, eliminating USC’s hopes for a tournament bid in the process.

Senior driver Jessica Lopez provided the match-winning goal in sudden death overtime as the Bruins outlasted the Trojans 7-6.

“The USC game was huge for us,” junior driver Natalie Golda said. “We knew that whoever won would get into the tournament.”

After falling to Stanford on Sunday in five sudden death overtime periods, 3-2, UCLA needed the win over the Trojans to capture the at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Stanford (20-2) received an automatic bid to La Jolla, along with Loyola Marymount (23-8) and Indiana (26-9).

“We have to be proud of ourselves, eliminating our rivals and getting into the NCAA tournament,” senior goalkeeper Jaime Hipp said.

After the MPSF tournament in Stanford, where a couple thousand fans enjoyed back-to-back overtime contests, the scene will shift to UCSD for the NCAA tournament.

“It was a great show (in the MPSFs),” said UCLA head coach Adam Krikorian. “It was great for the fans and a great tournament overall.”

Golda again led the Bruins in scoring with eight goals in the tournament, but was held scoreless against the Cardinal. UCLA and Stanford are both heavily favored to square off in the championship game for the third consecutive year. The Cardinal defeated the Bruins in last year’s NCAA title game, 8-4.

“The older players know how difficult it is to get an opportunity to play in the final four,” Krikorian said. “It is the most difficult part of the whole year.”

The Bruins will have a week and a half to prepare for their first-round date with LMU on May 10, a team they defeated 12-5 and 7-4 earlier this season. The team will focus on shooting drills and game simulations to improve on the 5 percent scoring rate that Stanford held them to in the MPSF (two goals on 42 shots).

“We truly enjoyed the season,” added Krikorian. “We can’t get sentimental about our senior group playing in their final games. We are here to win the championship as a team.”

LMU is coming off its third straight Western Water Polo Association championship. The Lions also picked up seven WWPA awards, including player of the year honors for junior utility Teresa Guidi and coach of the year honors for John Loughran (both winning their respective awards for the third consecutive year).

Guidi scored five times during the WWPA tournament, including two in the championship game, to eliminate host UCSD from the NCAA tournament.

The top-seeded Cardinal will take on Indiana. The victors of both matches will play the following day for the championship.

The matches are single elimination, with a runner-up match to determine third and fourth place.