The UCLA men’s water polo team returns to action this morning with a game which wasn’t on the schedule when it was originally released. The Bruins will host the Pepperdine Waves at Spieker Aquatic Center today at 11:00am PT. Today’s game won’t be televised, but it can be streamed on Pac-12.com.

Last Weekend

Last Saturday, the Bruins opened the season with a doubleheader against the Bears and the Trojans. Unfortunately, the Bruins were swept. They lost the opener to UC Berkeley 17-16 in overtime and, later, dropped the nitecap to the Trojans 12-7.

UCLA’s Tanner Pulice scored the first goal of the game on a power play to put UCLA ahead with 6:41 left in the first quarter, but Berkeley tied the game just 59 seconds later. Chasen Travisano put the Bruins back in front with just under four minutes left but, again, the Bears tied the score about a minute later. With 2:22 left, Cameron Reagan re-took the lead for UCLA. This time, Tommy Gruwell scored the next goal to double the Bruins’ lead. UC Berkeley scored the final goal of the first quarter to cut the Bruin lead to one after one.

The second quarter saw the advantage shift toward the Golden Bears, who scored the first two goals of the quarter to take a 5-4 lead. Ryan Sawyer tied the game with 2:46 left in the half, but Joe Molina re-took the lead for UC Berkeley just 20 seconds later. Evan Rosenfield and Gabe Discipulo would each score in the final two minutes of the half while the Bears scored once and the teams were tied at the half.

The second half was a lot like the first. The Bruins outscored the Bears in the third, 4-2, with two more goals from Gruwell, one from Nicolas Saveljic and a second from Discipulo, and UCLA led 11-9 after three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, Andy Rogers and Nicolas Saveljic scored UCLA’s first two goals of the quarter, but Berkeley added five to take a 14-13 edge as time ran down. With just one second left in regulation, Jake Cavano scored his only goal of the game to send the game into overtime.

In the first overtime, Gruwell scored for the fourth time, yet the Bears managed to tie it again with just 16 seconds left. Berkeley scored consecutive goals in the second overtime period while Gruwell’s fifth goal cut the lead to one, 17-16, with 0:45 seconds left, but the Bruins couldn’t get another to tie the game before time expired and they fell in the opener, 17-16.

Saturday’s second game wasn’t as high scoring. Southern Cal got on the board first but Gruwell and Saveljic each scored in the quarter for UCLA and the game was tied, 2-2, after the first quarter. Rogers gave the Bruins their first lead by scoring just over a minute into the second quarter, but the Trojans tied it again just 21 seconds later. UCLA’s final lead of the game came when Jack Larsen put the Bruins up 4-3 with 5:18 left in the half. Three consecutive goals by Southern Cal put the game out of reach for good, though, Travisano was able to cut the lead to just one on a powerplay goal with 3:13 left. Southern Cal managed to score again to take a 7-5 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the Bruin offense went flat as UCLA could only muster two goals. Pulice scored the only Bruin goals of the second half with one in the third and another in the fourth. Meanwhile, the Trojans scored three in the third and two more in the fourth to win this one, 12-7.

The Bruins were able to bounce back on Sunday as they swept their doubleheader against the Trojans and the Golden Bears.

In the first game, UCLA faced Southern Cal for the second time in as many games. The first quarter saw the Trojans take a 4-3 edge. While the Bruins scored first on a goal by Pulice, Southern Cal responded just over 30 seconds later. Travisano put UCLA ahead only to see the Trojans tie it again less than 20 seconds later. Tommy Gruwell scored with 2:27 left in the quarter but, again, Southern Cal answered the call. Then, with just nine seconds left in the first, the Trojans scored again to head into the second quarter with a 4-3 lead.

The second quarter belonged to the Bruins. UCLA used a scoring barrage in the first minute of the second to take the control of the game. Saveljic tied the game 4-4 just 15 seconds into the quarter while Cavano put the Bruins ahead for good just four seconds later. Gruwell added his second of the game 38 seconds later and Saveljic’s second goal of the quarter gave UCLA a 7-4 lead with 5:07 left in the half. That may have gotten Cavano and Gruwell jealous as they each scored another goal to complete the quarter’s frenzy and give the Bruins a 9-7 lead at the half.

The story of the second half was defense. UCLA goalkeeper Bernardo Maurizi held Southern Cal scoreless in the third and only gave up one goal in the fourth. Meanwhile, Gruwell scored his fourth goal of the game in the third and Travisano scored his second in the fourth to seal the 11-8 victory.

In the nitecap, UCLA scored three times in the first on goals from Tanner Pulice and two from Chasen Travisano. Those gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead after one and they would never trail in this game. Another second quarter barrage gave them a 7-3 lead at the half. UC Berkeley did manage to tie it, 3-3, but Discipulo put UCLA back ahead. It was the first of two goals for him in the quarter. Gruwell gave the Bruins a two-point lead and Hayden Nightingale scored his first goal of the season with just 11 seconds left in the half.

With a 7-3 lead at the half, UCLA was able to focus on defense again in the second half. As a result, the Bruins scored just a pair of goals from Cavano in the third quarter and one from Evan Rosenfield in the fourth. But Maurizi held strong and only allowed UC Berkeley to score four times in the half to give UCLA the 10-7 win and the doubleheader sweep.

As a result of last weekend’s games which were all split with UCLA, Southern Cal and Cal all winning two and losing two, the three teams are now all tied for second in this week’s CWPA Top 10 Poll with 91 points each. Stanford remains #1 despite not yet releasing a water polo schedule or playing a game.

Pepperdine Waves

While three of the Big Four in water polo were beating up on each other last weekend, the Pepperdine Waves were busy sweeping Air Force, 16-9 and 12-7. While Air Force was ranked 18th in the CWPA Preseason Poll, there isn’t much that can be taken from last Saturday’s results.

Needless to say, UCLA should come out on top in this one. The key would seem to be if Maurizi can put together a game at least as good as Sunday’s games against Southern Cal and UC Berkeley or if he plays like he did on Saturday when the Bruins were swept.

This is your UCLA Men’s Water Polo vs. Pepperdine game thread.

#2 UCLA Men’s Water Polo (2-2)

Opponent: #5 Pepperdine Waves (2-0)
Game Time: 2:30pm PT, Saturday, January 23, 2021
Where: Spieker Aquatics Center, Los Angeles, CA
Live TV/Audio: None
Live Stream: Pac-12.com
Live Stats: TheFosh.net

Official Previews/Game Notes
UCLA
Pepperdine

Go Bruins!!!

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