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Road to 100: Women's Water Polo Edition

By Menelaus

As Nestor already mentioned, UCLA has it's next shot at 100 this weekend, with the lady Bruins water polo team competing in the semifinals for their third consecutive national championship.  The second-seeded Bruins advanced to the semis after absolutely blowing out seventh-seeded Pomona-Pitzer 22-0 yesterday.

The Bruins (26-2) take on USC today at 6:45 pm at the Joint Forces Training Base in Las Alamitos.  Tune into the game here, and if you find yourself in that neck of the woods, do yourself a favor and stop by and support the team.

For those of you who have not been following along, the Bruins are led by all-everything senior driver Kelly Rulon, who was recently named the MPSF Player of the Year and is also a Cutino Award finalist for national player of the year.

Coming into today's game, the Bruins have defeated the Trojans three times in 2007.  Their win over USC in the MPSF Tournament semifinal also marked the fourth consecutive time the Bruins have defeated Southern Cal by a single goal, and it is the fifth consecutive victory over the Trojans.  How can you not like this team?  Let's hope they can do it again.

Should the Bruins win today, they'll advance to the championship game tomorrow, and will likely face first seeded Stanford, who UCLA beat to win the MPSF Tournament, yet defeated the Bruins twice in the regular season.  Stanford takes on fourth seeded San Diego State today.  Here's a few words from the Daily Bruin on UCLA's upcoming opponents:

UCLA enters the tournament following a victory at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference tournament, where it claimed its first win of the season over Stanford and its third against USC. Because the Cardinal beat the Bruins twice in the regular season they were able to hold onto the No. 1 seed. UCLA will almost certainly have to beat USC on Saturday and Stanford on Sunday to win the NCAA title.
...

[UCLA coach Adam] Krikorian has prepared his team to face two very different opponents this weekend.

USC likes to hunker down in the middle of the offensive zone, using sophomore Kami Craig to dominate the center area. The Trojans are very patient and methodical, using Craig and their perimeter shooters to break down opposing defenses.

Stanford, on the other hand, uses an offense similar to the motion offense in basketball. The Cardinal thrives on its speed and anticipation; everyone is constantly moving. The up-tempo offense forces defenses to locate every player.

I have a good feeling about this one.

Good luck ladies.

GO BRUINS.

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