UCLA Women's Water Polo Falls to Stanford in MPSF Semis
Now, the Bruins will face Arizona State in a third place game that could affect seeding in the NCAA Tournament.
The UCLA women’s water polo team lost their semifinal game to Stanford yesterday, 13-8. As a result of that, the Bruins will play Arizona State this morning in the third place game of the MPSF Tournament at 11:30 am PT. While the results of the third place game may not seem all that important, it’s more important than you might think. After all, the NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed tomorrow and, while the Bruins will serve as the host school for the tournament, they would still like to have the best seeding they can get. A win today should ensure that the Bruins won’t be seeded any lower than third.
Last Time Out
Yesterday’s 13-8 loss to Stanford was UCLA’s worst loss since 2019 when the Bruins lost to Southern Cal in the MPSF Semifinals, 9-4.
While the Cardinal didn’t score the game-winning goal until the third quarter, this game was really over by the end of the first quarter.
To be sure, UCLA led twice early. Brooke Maxson scored the first goal of the game with 4:01 left in the first quarter and, after Stanford tied it up, Abbi Hill put the Bruins up 2-1 with 1:40 to go. But the Cardinal got two goals in the final 1:25 to take a 3-2 lead.
From there, it was just a matter of Stanford increasing their lead. They scored four times in the second quarter while UCLA was only able to score once in the second when Hill found the net again with 5:28 left in the half and the Cardinal had a 7-3 lead at the half.
The Bruins cut that lead in half to start the third on goals from Maxson and Johnson. Stanford got their first goal of the second half just twenty seconds after Johnson’s and Hill completed her hat trick that made it 8-6, Cardinal. Stanford got what would be the game-winning goal with 3:32 to go in the third.
Both teams were scoreless for the next six minutes until the Cardinal increased their lead to 10-6 with 5:41 to go in the game. While Hannah Palmer scored twice in the final 2:14 seconds, it was too little, too late as Stanford added three more late goals to take the game, 13-8, to advance to today’s championship game against Southern Cal.
Arizona State Sun Devils
The Sun Devils fell to Southern Cal in yesterday’s second semifinal game by a score of 16-8 to set up today’s third place game.
This game looks to be a tough one, given the fact that the Bruins and Sun Devils split a weekend series just three weeks ago in Tempe. Hopefully, Adam Wright has his Bruins ready to play better today than they did yesterday.
MPSF Women’s Water Polo Tournament Third Place Game
Opponents: #2 UCLA Women’s Water Polo (12-4, 9-3) vs. Arizona State Sun Devils (13-10, 6-6)
When:Â 11:30 am PT, Sunday, May 2, 2021
Where: Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, Tempe, AZ
TV:Â None
Live Stream: MPSports.org (subscription req’d)
Live Stats:Â TheFosh.net
Go Bruins!!!
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