The Bruins will look to bounce back after their first loss of the season.
No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (9-1, 1-0 MPSF) will face off against No. 6 UC Irvine (6-4) on Saturday at the Anteater Aquatics Complex. The Bruins will have the chance to further their 32-0 all-time record against the Anteaters.
“Irvine is a really, really great program,” said coach Adam Wright. “We know that we’re going to have our hands full down there, and they always bring their best against us.”
With three players on his team originating from Irvine, Wright added that the Bruins should have a lot of support despite being on the road.
One of those players – junior attacker Malia Allen – has a personal history with the Anteater Aquatics Complex and said she’s hoping her siblings will join her parents in attending the game.
“I used to play club there, and my club practices would be there,” Allen said. “So it’s nostalgic. I guess you could say I’m going back and playing at that pool at another level, which is always really fun.”
After three straight weekends with four games played, the Bruins finally have a chance to slow it down with just one game this weekend before a bye next weekend.
Wright said the team is going to take advantage of the time off to focus on some of the things it struggled with in its loss to USC last weekend.
“We get a full week here at home to get an opportunity to really put in some quality training, and we have the ability to also increase the load of our training,” Wright said.
While the team’s scoring has been prolific this season, with 154 total goals scored and 19 hat tricks recorded through 10 games, the goalkeeping and defense has been strong too. The defense has held opponents to under 10 points in all but one game.
Redshirt senior Georgia Phillips and junior Sydney Chiang have both played full games as goalkeepers this year against top-five competition. Wright said the depth in the cage is imperative to the team’s success, as injuries can pop up across the season.
“It’s a great and not super common asset on the team to have two goalies that coaches put in for full games,” Phillips said. “The team trusts us both, and I think that’s really valuable. And I’m lucky to have a good friend on the team like Sydney.”
Last year against the Anteaters, Phillips made nine saves in a game that ended 14-8 in favor of the Bruins. As a goalkeeper, Phillips said she has a unique perspective on the game.
“We’re not moving as much, and we see the whole pool the whole time,” Phillips said. “So we can communicate what’s going on behind them when they can’t see. And an important part of our job is coordinating the defense and helping the team move as a unit.”
In addition to Phillips assisting with communication from the cage, the opportunity for the Bruins to get more practices and conditioning over the next few weeks will help them increase communication during games, said senior attacker Hannah Palmer.
Palmer said conditioning helps communication late in games.
“When we’re tired, we tend to just close our mouths and do what we see,” Palmer said. “We don’t necessarily talk out what we see.”
UCLA will have the chance to improve its record against Irvine on Saturday at noon.
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