Momentum means nothing.
Just ask USC women’s water polo coach Jovan Vavic.
The Trojans came into this weekend’s conference tournament having won 25 games straight, but dropped two straight to finish in a disappointing fourth place.
Vavic declined to comment after their 10-7 loss to the Bruins on Sunday and stormed off.
Just ask Hawai’i coach Michel Roy if it’s a surprise that his Rainbow Wahine got to their first conference championship ever, and he’ll say nobody knows which team will show up.
Just ask Stanford coach John Tanner, whose team fell to the Bruins three weeks ago, what it’s like winning the conference tournament and he’ll say it’s a starting point. The real season starts in May.
With the NCAA Tournament, which is held in Davis, just two weeks away, many coaches, such as Tanner and UCLA’s Adam Krikorian, couldn’t help but notice how wide open the national title is this season after the weekend in Irvine.
“There’s never been four teams that have been so evenly matched,” said Krikorian after the Bruins finished third in the conference tournament. “There’s always been one team that has been the favorite, and then another team really close and then no one else. It’s not like that anymore. Any team can win.”
“USC isn’t clearly superior to the other teams, so to see them stumble isn’t surprising,” Tanner said.
And so the preparation for round two of this up-for-grabs season begins after the national collegiate women’s water polo selection show airs on CSTV today at 5 p.m.
Despite the pair of losses this weekend, USC (25-2) will likely hold on to its top rank.
After earning an automatic bid, Stanford (22-4), which has won four of the last seven Mountain Pacific Sports Federation titles, will likely jump to the second seed with UCLA (26-4) falling to the third seed.
Both USC and UCLA will likely earn NCAA at-large bids.
After defeating USC in the semifinals, Hawai’i (17-10) will have a slight edge to earn the third and final at-large bid over Loyola Marymount, which lost to UC Davis in the Western Water Polo Association conference tournament.
On the final day of the MPSF Tournament, the No. 1 Trojans had blowout on their minds, jumping out to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period. But UCLA responded.
The Bruins went on a 3-1 run of their own in the second period, tying the game at 4-4 after UCLA junior driver Kelly Rulon rifled a six-meter skip shot in the left side of the cage during a 6-on-5 advantage play.
The Bruins were an efficient 5-for-6 on their man-advantage to USC’s 4-for-12.
Bruin junior driver Molly Cahill, who has been questionable in terms of her aggression on the offensive side, came up huge in the third period, scoring back-to-back goals for the Bruins to give them a 6-5 lead.
“Coach said to be aggressive, so I faked it in to Brittany Rowe, and I took the shot instead,” Cahill said.
UCLA never trailed from that point on, outscoring the Trojans 6-3 in the final two periods of play.
The Bruins closed the deal against the Trojans because of the play of UCLA’s role players.
In the middle of the season, Krikorian questioned his coaching strategy of spreading playing time around to all his players in hopes of developing them.
It paid off, Krikorian admits.
Cahill finished with two goals, and freshman driver Tanya Gandy and sophomore driver Courtney Mathewson each scored one in Sunday’s win.
“Those girls, they’ve gained valuable experience, and they’re learning to be aggressive,” Krikorian said. “They struggled with confidence at times, but if you don’t give them an opportunity, they’re always going to be like that.”
Teams will now take the next two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans, who were emotionally down after this weekend, are still the team to beat, according to both Krikorian and Roy.
But one Bruin’s statement may very well encapsulate this NCAA Tournament.
“Anything can happen,” senior Kristina Kunkel said. “That’s what everyone saw this weekend.”