By Rekha Rao
Daily Bruin Contributor
For the second year in a row, the UCLA men’s water polo team is going to the NCAA Championship tournament. As the No. 1 seed, the Bruins will compete against No. 4 Navy at Pepperdine University on Saturday, and should they win, UCLA will play the winner of the No. 3 UC San Diego-No. 2 USC game on Sunday afternoon.
Under the guidance of co-head coaches Guy Baker and Adam Krikorian, the Bruins are looking to win their fourth title in six years.
UCLA paved its way into the NCAA Championship by winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title in a 6-5 defeat of Cal in the final game of last weekend’s MPSF tournament.
UCLA has not faced UC San Diego nor Navy this year, but the Bruins have trained with them in the preseason.
“They (Navy) played in the same tournament that we played in, the Southern California Tournament, but we did not play them,” Krikorian said. “We scrimmaged them in the summertime in Hawaii, so we have a general idea of how they are as a team.”
Navy’s key players include senior Shawn Foster.
“(Foster) is probably the best player on the East Coast. He has good size and speed, and is a solid all-around player,” Krikorian said.
The Bruins are taking this tournament one game at a time, but they still have the eventual goal in mind.
“I don’t think it matters who we play for the championship. We just want to win,” Krikorian said.
The Bruins last faced the Trojans on Nov. 18 at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center, where the Bruins won 6-5. Soon after that the NCAA took away five winning games from UCLA for playing an ineligible player. Officially, UCLA’s record against USC is 0-4.
USC is the favorite to face the Bruins in the championship game on Sunday.
“This weekend should be a battle,” senior 2-meter man Dave Parker said. “We will come into each game with the same philosophy to play hard, but we have a couple different twists with plays. We will have the same attitude.”
Last year, the Bruins beat Stanford 6-5 for the NCAA championship.
As returning champions, UCLA has had to face the pressure all season.
“It was hard coming into the season as returning champions, but I think coming into the tournament it is easier,” Krikorian said. “We have been there and done it. We know what the atmosphere is like, what the crowd is like, and what the games are going to be like.”
But the expectations are heavy for the Bruins.
“Everyone is expecting us to win it,” sophomore playmaker Nick Pacelli said. “We just have to play hard and play our game to win.”
But this year the Bruins have a little bit more on their minds. Senior Adam Wright has been declared ineligible by the NCAA because he never filed for a medical redshirt his true freshman year. Despite legal attempts to get it back, he has been declared permanently ineligible to play.
This has affected the Bruins in different ways, both emotionally and physically.
“It has affected us in a big way,” Krikorian said. “Whether we win or lose this weekend, it will not change what has happened to our team because of this. He is a part of our senior core group that has been our leaders through the year, and now he is not playing.”
Parker agrees that losing Wright has been difficult for the team.
“It has been like losing your captain,” he said. “He is one of the best players on the team, and losing him has been hard. He is still a big part of this team.”
The Bruins still have senior Sean Kern, who was recently named MSPF Player of the Year by the league’s head coaches. Kern, a 2000 Olympian, also was the 1999 NCAA Player of the Year and last year’s NCAA Championship MVP.
The Bruins are going into this weekend motivated.
“We are pumped. It has been a wild season, and we are glad we made it though,” Pacelli said.
The season will be over after the tournament, and for the team’s six graduating seniors, it will mark the end of their collegiate careers.
“This is the craziest season I have ever been a part of,” Krikorian said. “We have been through a lot at as a team. It has been emotional and trying at times. We have stuck together through it all, and that is what is special about this team.
“Hopefully it will carry us through to another championship.”