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This afternoon, the UCLA women’s water polo team hosts Southern Cal in the regular season finale at 4 pm PT. The game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks National and Los Angeles.
Last Time Out
The Bruins have had plenty of time to prepare for today’s game. The last time they played was back on April 7th during their road trip to Northern California. That’s when they played San Jose State in an MPSF game, which they won, 13-3.
This game was over by halftime.
Bronte Halligan scored the only goal of the first quarter for the Bruins with 1:23 left in the quarter. Roxy Wheaton got things going in the second just 44 seconds into the quarter while Halligan followed 50 seconds later with her second goal of the game. Lizette Rozeboom netted what would turn out to be the game-winner with 3:21 left in the half while Ava Johnson and Lexi Liebowitz each added insurance goals to put UCLA up 6-2 at the half.
Halligan, Maddie Musselman, and Sarah Sheldon each added a pair of second half goals while Val Ayala scored once. In the second half, San Jose State was only able to score once in the third quarter and UCLA went on to win easily, 13-3.
Southern Cal Trojans
Southern Cal beat the Bruins in the only game played between the teams so far this year by a score of 10-3 at the Triton Invitational in San Diego in February.
A lot has happened since then including the firing of longtime Southern Cal head coach Jovan Vavic due to the college admissions scandal. In fact, since he was fired, the Trojans lost their only game of the season to Stanford, 9-8, at home in overtime.
So, while it may seem like the Bruins might not be quite as good as they’ve been in past years, it is possible that they could end up beating the Trojans today to take second place in the MPSF regular season standings. That won’t get UCLA a bye in the MPSF Tournament, but it will get them the next best thing — a first round game against Indiana, which is almost a guaranteed win.
This is your UCLA vs. Southern Cal women’s water polo open thread.
Go Bruins!!!