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Monday, April 1, 1996

By Mark J. Dittmer

Daily Bruin Contributor

Every team goes through a slump. Players are rusty, they get tired and every break starts to go the wrong way.

The UCLA women's water polo team, however, has proved capable of going through such a stretch without a scratch. Mired in a slump of sorts in their last two games, the Bruins still pulled out victories ­ 10-1 over USC last Friday and 5-4 over San Diego State on Saturday.

Saturday's win was the Bruins' closest of the year. It was also the first game in which UCLA (15-0 overall, 5-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) fell behind all year. The Bruins were behind for much of the first half, 1-0 and later 2-1.

The score was knotted at four for much of the fourth quarter, until Coralie Simmons broke the tie with 3:50 left. Simmons' goal was her fourth of the game, and it gave UCLA a slim lead to protect.

Most of that protection was given by goalie Nicolle Payne. Payne made six of her eight saves in the fourth quarter. One of those came with four seconds left, stopping what would have been a dramatic game-tying shot.

"Nicolle is very consistent," UCLA assistant coach Leslie Storey said. "She not only blocks a lot of shots, she also comes up big at the big moments. She's always been a clutch player for us."

The Bruins' close win over a tough San Diego State team was a good win on the surface. The Aztecs were playing at full strength for the first time and were motivated to avenge two earlier defeats at the hands of the Bruins.

Yet despite coming away with a victory, Bruin head coach Guy Baker could be happier.

"We're going through a little bit of a lull," he said. "We were a little sluggish all weekend. I think we'll be fine, but we're definitely struggling."

The 5-4 win on Saturday paled in comparison to UCLA's 7-2 walloping of the Aztecs in San Diego two weeks ago. The Bruins had backed into that March 17 contest, looking flat the day before in a 10-5 win over UCSD, but they came out on fire against the Aztecs.

Baker was pleased with his troops after the thrashing of San Diego State.

"That was the best team defense we played all year," Baker said after that match. "We controlled the tempo and we controlled the whole game."

The Bruins were able to put such a game together despite finals lurking around the corner. With that win, UCLA was 13-0, and would have two weeks off after the cancellation of the Michigan tournament, originally scheduled for March 22-24.

The Bruins improvement to 15-0 over their last two games can be largely attributed to a good effort from Jennifer McFerrin, who scored three goals over the weekend and drew raves from the coaches.

"She was all over the place this weekend. She made a lot happen for us," Baker said.

Freshmen Coralie Simmons and Catharine von Schwarz did most of the rest of the weekend's scoring. Simmons added two goals on Friday against USC to her four on Saturday, while von Schwarz netted three goals on Friday.

With their wins, UCLA clinched first place in the Southern Division of the MPSF. This will pay off with a No. 1 seed in the MPSF tournament April 13-14.

PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin

Coralie Simmons (No. 13) scored the tiebreaking goal that gave the Bruins a desperate victory over San Diego State.

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