Ladies and gentlemen here are the back-to-back-to-back-to-back national champions:


Photo by Leigh Alvarez, Daily Bruin staff

From the Daily Bruin on our women’s water polo team (33-0) bringing home number 101, capping a perfect season, beating Troy in the championship game in Palo Alto:

"It’s an unbelievable feeling," Krikorian said. "These girls played with so much heart today. To go undefeated is incredibly difficult. These girls handled it really well and stayed focused on the task."

It was clear from the first minutes of the game that this was not the same UCLA team that struggled early on in an 11-4 semifinal win over No. 5 UC Davis on Saturday afternoon. Three goals from junior Tanya Gandy and seniors Courtney Mathewson and Gabrielle Domanic in the first three and a half minutes of the first quarter gave the Bruins a lead they would not relinquish.

They built on that momentum in the second quarter and by halftime had a 5-1 lead over the Trojans.

"I think a big key today was getting off to a good start," Krikorian said. "It settled us down and gave us some confidence."

The second half saw the Trojans with a new wind. USC won the opening sprint and worked the ball to UCLA’s cage but still struggled to get shots past junior goalkeeper Brittany Fullen. It wasn’t until a 6-on-5 opportunity with 1:03 left in the quarter that the Trojans got another goal, bringing the score to 5-2.

"They had a really strong start, and we were really nervous," USC senior Veronika Bartunkova said. "When we started playing, it was too late."

With this championship Coach Krikorian has effectively carved himself out a place in the Mt. Rushmore of Bruin coaches alone Coach John Wooden, Al Scates, and Sue Enquist.

Coach Krikorian did this by adopting the philosophy of yet another rock star head coach from Westwood. Again from the Daily Bruin:

After three years of leaving the NCAA Tournament with trophy in hand, the Bruins’ desire for more hardware did not fade. UCLA’s fierce defense, a staple of coach Adam Krikorian’s championship teams, was as tough as ever, even down to the last seconds of Sunday’s 6-3 victory.

"You would think they would be a little complacent and not as hungry to get back there, but that has not been the case at all," Krikorian said. "That’s a credit to them and their personalities, their drive to become better players and for us to become better as a team."

All but one of the seniors started on a team that ran through the 2008 season like a freight train. Individually, they collected a slew of awards for their play in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season and the NCAA Tournament.

And speaking of those Seniors, it was of course the fourth straight title for Jillian Kraus, Kamaile Crowell, Gabrielle Domanic, Courtney Mathewson and Brittany Rowe, who finished their UCLA record with a RIDICULOUS 123-6:


Photo by Leigh Alvarez, Daily Bruin staff

Simply incredible.

Junior Tanya Gandy, who scored one of the first Q goals to get our team going, was named the MVP of the tourney as she connected 5 times in the Semi and the Final game.

More on the game from AP writeup and the official website.

GO BRUINS.

Bumped. It's turning out to be busy busy Mother's Day in terms of news. We are going to leave this post up top. Consider it as open thread as the Ladies are gunning for number 101. GO BRUINS. -N

How great is this. 

After a slow start, with the game feeling a shade too close heading into halftime, the Bruins pull away from No. 4 UC Davis with a 11-4 win to advance to their fourth consecutive NCAA title game.

Now, the only thing standing between UCLA and it's record 10th NCAA title is No. 2 Stanford No. 3 USC.  Yes, that's right, Southern Cal managed the upset Stanford in the late game, setting up a rivalry game for the National Championship.

Before we get to Southern Cal, let's start with UCLA's win over UC Davis. 

Tanya Gandy scored three goals in the first four minutes of the third period to help the top-ranked UCLA women's water polo team beat UC Davis 11-4 Saturday and advance to the NCAA championship match against USC.

The Trojans advanced to today's title game with a 10-6 victory over Stanford as Michelle Stein scored three straight goals to open the fourth period.

Courtney Mathewson also scored three goals for the Bruins (32-0), who will be seeking their fourth consecutive national title, and sixth since 2001.

Here's more from the official site:

A six-goal outburst in the third quarter turned a 3-2 UCLA halftime lead into a 9-3 advantage, and the Bruins dispatched UC Davis in the NCAA semifinals at Stanford University, 11-4, securing their fourth consecutive and seventh overall NCAA Championship game berth. Tanya Gandy scored three straight goals to start the second half, Courtney Mathewson added two, and Katie Rulon one in the decisive period.

...

Clinging to a 3-2 halftime lead, UCLA came out swinging early in the third quarter. Just 40 seconds into the period, Gandy scored on a skip shot, and she repeated her success with another skip shot goal with 5:15 left in the quarter to increase UCLA's lead to 5-2. Gandy made it three in a row a minute later, lofting a shot past Aggie goalkeeper Casey Hines into the right corner of the net. Lindsay Kiyama scored on UC Davis' third power play goal with 3:56 on the clock, but Mathewson answered less than a minute later with a power play goal of her own to make it 7-3 UCLA, and she scored her third of the game with 27 seconds remaining in the quarter. Rulon added a goal with two seconds left to up the Bruin lead to 9-3.

(Junior attacker Tanya Gandy; Photo Credit: Nathan Tyree)

After UCLA advanced, Southern Cal surprised host and No. 2 seed Stanford to advance to the finals.  From CSTV:

The USC women's water polo team posted a dominating effort against second-seeded host Stanford in the NCAA Semifinals on Saturday, tallying a 10-6 victory over the Cardinal for the Trojans' biggest win over Stanford since 2005. Behind hat tricks from Alexandra Kiss and Michelle Stein, No. 3 seed USC secured a trip to the NCAA Championship game, where the Trojans will face undefeated UCLA in the title match at 6 p.m. on Sunday (May 11) at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center.

Now, playing Southern Cal won't exactly be a new experience to the Bruins.  UCLA has already beaten the Trojans three times this season, including as recently as a one goal victory in the final of the MPSF title game.  Here's the pre-tournament scoop on Southern Cal from the Bootleg:

About the Trojans:   USC’s season started off a little shaky with surprise losses to Arizona State and Cal early on. The Trojans seem to have righted their ship recently, though, and look poised to make a deep run. Senior Veronika Bartunkova and sophomore Tumua Anae are first team All-MPSF selections, and have 44 goals and a 4.7 GAA respectively. Senior Miranda Nichols is one of the conference’s best defenders and earned a Second Team All-Conference spot. Michele Stein leads the team with 52 goals on the season. They are coached by Jovan Vavic, in his 14th season, who looks to win the women’s championship back for the first time since 2004.

The championship will begin today at 6 pm.  And, in addition to being broadcast online at www.uclabruins.com, look for the game on TV on the CBS College Sports network (formerly CSTV).

This is what it's all about ladies and gents.  One more game with No. 101 on the line.

GO BRUINS.

As Nestor noted already, the lady Bruins took care of business against Division III Pomona-Pitzer to advance to the semis against UC Davis.  From the Daily News:

Katie Rulon, Gabrielle Domanic and Jillian Kraus each scored three goals to lead the top-ranked UCLA women's water polo team to a 19-6 victory over Pomona-Pitzer in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament at Stanford.

(Senior driver Katie Rulon; Photo credit: Jennifer Drader)

Here's more from from the official site.  And, while Courtney Mathewson had a day off in the scoring department yesterday, you should check out this Daily Breeze article that recounts her game winners during the last two NCAA title games.

The Bruins face the 4 seed in UC Davis today at 4 pm today.  No. 2-seeded Stanford and No. 3-seeded USC will face each other in the other semifinal. 

As with the last contest, the game broadcast will be available online at www.uclabruins.com. 

If you're in the Bay area, I can't think of a much better way to spend the day than heading down to Stanford and taking in the game to cheer on our ladies.

If you're not, and your watching the game online, consider this your open thread.  Fire away.

GO BRUINS.

100 down. So, why not 100 more to go?

Okay, okay, no one's getting crazy here, but it's nice to be looking forward.  And it's hard not to think about national championships when the subject turns to the Bruins woman's water polo team, our very own dynasty of the water world. 

A year ago next week, the lady Bruins brought us No. 100.

Now, the Bruins, led by Cutino Award finalists Courtney Matthewson and Jillian Kraus, and winners of three consecutive NCAA championships in 2005, 2006 and 2007, look to make it four in a row by capturing their 10th national title overall.

By the way, these kinds of stats are just ridiculous:

And the lady Bruins have it rolling again this year, riding a perfect 30-0 record after capturing their second-straight MPSF Championship after just another win against USC (their 3rd of the season).

Senior Jillian Kraus; Photo by Kyle Lishok

For those of you who haven't been following our lady Bruins, here's a tournament preview of UCLA by the Bootleg:

This year's NCAA Tournament begins today with a 5:00 p.m. matchup against Pomona-Pitzer (17-11) at Avery Aquatic Center at Stanford (the No. 2 seed). The Sagehens, the only Division III team in the tournament, will have their hands full with the Bruins.

The game today will be broadcast live on www.uclabruins.com.  And, should the Bruins advance, here is the schedule for the rest of the weekend:

This should be an interesting weekend.  Good luck ladies,

GO BRUINS.

Huge thanks to Jack Rosenfeld for emailing us this report and some great pictures from yesterday's dual meet at Drake. GO  BRUINS. -N

The UCLA men's Track and Field team won the annual dual meet on Saturday by a score of 89 - 74 Southern Cal at Drake Stadium (all time record vs Southern Cal is 34-41).  After losing last year, the Bruins won their 28th victory over Southern Cal in the past 30 scoring meets.  The men took advantage of the distance races, the field events, and the 110 m Hurdles to build a comfortable lead such that the meet was clinched before the triple jump and the 1600 meter Relay were completed.  UCLA swept the 5000m, 3000m Steeplechase, High Jump, Pole Vault, Shot Put and Discus.  

Kevin Craddock ran a very impressive 13.46 seconds, winning the 110m Hurdles.



More pictures and wrapup after the jump ...

Continue reading this post »

This might actually be more of a diary than a front page story, but with the injury news from Spaulding Field, I thought we needed a bit of positive news.

Senior Tasha Schwikert yesterday won the NCAA individual title in women's gymnastics. In the process, Schwikert became the first Bruin to win the individual title twice; she also won it as a freshman.

Alas, the Bruins finished fourth in the NCAA prelims and will will not advance to the Super Six to compete for the national team title.

Bruins Nation congratulates Tasha Schwikert -- Olympian, World Champion, NCAA Champion -- for her title and her incredible career and thanks her for representing the Bruins with her talent, skill and class.

(I couldn't find a decent photo of Tasha from the NCAAs, but I did find this one on Candace Dwan's web page and thought it was pretty cool.)

Many thanks to Jack Rosenfeld for sharing this story on our women's gymnastics team. Regular readers of BN should know Jack. He is the uber talented photographer who is always kind of enough to send us his wonderful pictures from Pauley. Thanks Jack and good luck to our Bruins for rest of the season. GO BRUINS. -N

Tough day at Pauley.  The women were in the lead after the first two rotations.  They had a tough beam rotation, including two of the women falling off the beam.  One of them was Brittani McCullough, who had very strong vault and uneven bars.  After her beam performance, she had her ankle worked on and re-wrapped before her floor routine.  On her first tumbling pass, she hurt her ankle on the takeoff, but was able to finish the first pass before being unable to continue.



She is out for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon.  UCLA finished third, as McCollough could not complete her floor routine and UCLA used senior Natalie Padilla's 9.1 score.  Although it would have been tough to win the overall meet without McCullough's floor routine, UCLA might have been able to take second place with a stronger beam performance. Tasha won the all-around and Jordan took third.   UCLA finished third behind Arkansas and Alabama, but finished ahead of Cal State Fullerton.

Great way for the Schwikert sisters to end their Pauley Pavillion careers.



You can find more photos of the meet on the Bruin Report Online's other sports forum.

- Jack Rosenfeld

I know a lot of folks may not care about womens' basketball, but we still have to take note when one of our athletic programs is not living up the expectations of the gold "C" on our uniforms.

So much for all the excitement around the Lady Bruins' upset of number 2 Stanford.

Just as some expected, they follow it up with a flop against (number 10) California. From Perelman in What's Bruin (emphasis mine):

I didn't get to watch the game. But it sure sounds like a Lavin coached team that wilted under pressure. From BruinTechie in response to M's post re. the Stanford win: Hmm. As I mentioned in the same thread, I don't follow womens' basketball with the same zeal I do wrt football and hoops. But we are always open to hearing from folks who care about this sport.

From cursory information, it sure looks like Olivier has been underachieving year after year, and her team is predictably inconsistent just like those joke Lavin teams from the dark years. So what gives? Why is she still drawing a paycheck? And can we expect some accountability if she continues to underachieve year after year? Again, I would love to hear the takes from someone who follows this sport closely.

GO BRUINS.

UPDATE: LA Times has the story on how Bruins snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Congrats to the girls for a great season. A heartbreaking end to the season. Let's hope they come back strong next years. GO BRUINS. -N

Rye set up the storyline yesterday. Our womens' soccer team is going for number 101 tonight:


Photo Credit: wjarrettc's photostream (flickr)

The game starts at 4 4:30 pm PST. You can watch it live on ESPNU and can track it online here.

As usual if you are watching the game or following it online this is the place to be.

Thread it up.

Beat SC & GO BRUINS.

In few minutes 3 Bruins are going to lead US U-20 soccer team on to the world stage in the quaterfinals (against Austria) of the FIFA World Cup. Yanks advanced to quarters after a dramatic OT win over Uruguay, in which Bruins played key roles. From our official site:

Perk seems to be following in the footsteps of legendary Bruin goalie Brad Friedel who played a huge part in US team's memorable performance in 2002 Worldcup in Korea, when we advanced to the Quaterfinals.

The game against Austria is going to be televised at 2:15 p.m. on ET, ESPNU from Toronto. More info on ESPN. I don't have those channels. So if you are watching the game fill us in what is going on.

It is obvious there is a lot of passion for soccer here on Bruins Nation. UCLA is a powerhouse in soccer as our national team's roster is filled with Bruins. Perk sounds like a stud at goalie and if you want to see what kind of player Zizzo is check this out:



That was his dramatic overtime goal against Duke last November, which put UCLA in  soccer version of NCAA Final-4. We have had our share of NCs in this sport and it looks like we are going to have a strong squad next year which again will be contending for a title.

So enjoy the match today and if you are watching keep us posted in the comment thread.

GO BRUINS.