Bruin Bites: Soccer Teams Hit Bumps, Men's Water Polo Continues to Roll, More

----  In the most recent coach's poll, the defending champion UCLA women's soccer team was a nearly unanimous #1 selection (poll results). The Bruins traveled to Tempe to take on #24 ranked Arizona State on Friday night in the conference opener. After a scoreless first half, the Sun Devils took the lead in the 49th minute. Senior Rosie White tied the game for the Bruins in the 67th minute. And that was all the scoring, as the teams tied 1-1. UCLA outshot ASU 34-10 and had five corners without conceding any. But at the end of the day, what matters is sticking the ball in the back of the net. And the Bruins were only able to break through once, leading to their second tie of the season, to go along with eight wins and no losses. Here is the recap from the official website. The Bruins return home to take on Utah this Friday.

----  In the most recent coach's poll, the UCLA men's soccer team was also a nearly unanimous #1 selection (poll results). That will surely change, as the Bruins hit the road and were upset by unranked University of San Diego 1-0 on Friday night. USD scored on a set piece in the 15th minute, and that was all she wrote. If you are interested in first half stats, you can see these here, from the UCLA website. If you would like full game stats, you will have to look elsewhere, as the USD website also only has first half stats. Based on the official website recap, it appears that UCLA only managed one shot on goal the entire match. That is clearly not a recipe for success. The Bruins got back on the winning track Sunday night at home, with a win over Cal State Northridge by the score of 3-0. After getting on the board courtesy of an own goal in the first half, the Bruins put the game away thanks to two goals by Leo Stolz in the last three minutes of the contest. Next up for UCLA is another road trip to San Diego this Saturday, this time to face San Diego State.

----  The men's water polo team was voted #1 in the most recent poll (results here), after knocking off previous #1 Stanford in the NorCal tournament last Sunday. Playing in their conference opener on Saturday, the Bruins left no doubt that they are deserving of the current ranking, as they steamrolled #9 UC Irvine 17-9. The Anteaters scored the first two goals of the match, but the Bruins then kicked the offense into gear, scoring at least four goals in every period. Three Bruins scored hat tricks- junior Danny McClintick with four goals, and sophomore Chancellor Ramirez and sophomore Gordon Marshall with three goals each. Here is the match recap, including stats for all four periods ! Chancellor Ramirez is a defender from Pasadena. And for once, it is great to be able to support without reservation a UCLA Chancellor. That opportunity clearly doesn't happen very often. Thank goodness for men's water polo. UCLA returns to the pool Friday night at home against #11 Pepperdine.

--- The women's volleyball team split the first two conference matches of the 2014 season last week. On Wednesday, the Bruins traveled to $C, and swept the #9 Trogans 25-23, 25-13 (!), and 27-25. After that great result, the Bruins returned "home" and lost in three sets to Arizona 20-25, 24-26, and 25-27. Match recaps are here ($C) and here (Arizona). The Arizona match was played at Pepperdine's Firestone Fieldhouse. Apparently, Doughnut is taking advantage of the water main repairs to install a special floor in Pauley which will allow Bryce to dunk without standing on Tony Parker's shoulders. This is unfortunately taking longer than expected, as most things do when Doughnut is involved. So Malibu here we come. The Bruins head north to take on the Washington schools this weekend, with UW on Friday and WSU on Sunday. Both teams are planning to play host on campus, although Doughnut could probably advise them how to schedule matches at Gonzaga or Idaho if they would like to see how things get done in Morgan Center.

UCLA's Olympic Sports teams continue to compete successfully at the highest levels. Let's hope that #112 and beyond are in the offing this fall.  Go Bruins !!