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USC
Women's Water Polo Sweeps Regular-Season Play Against USC
March 13, 2000 | Women's Water Polo
March 13, 2000
This Week: The third-ranked UCLA women's water polo team (15-2 overall, 4-0 MPSF) travels to Santa Barbara to meet the No. 8 Gauchos (6-11, 0-4) on Friday, March 17 at 4 pm for a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference matchup. Following their match against UC Santa Barbara, the Bruins head home to face off against No. 2 Stanford (12-3, 3-0) on Sunday, March 19 at noon at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center in another MPSF conference game.
UCLA vs. UC Santa Barbara: The Gauchos currently own a 6-11 record and have yet to win an MPSF conference game this season. UCLA has already defeated UC Santa Barbara twice in 2000. The Bruins handed the Gauchos a 16-4 drubbing at the Rainbow Wahine Challenge on February 5. One week later, UCLA routed UC Santa Barbara once again, defeating the Gauchos 12-2. All-time, UCLA leads the series against UC Santa Barbara 21-1, with its only loss coming in the Bruins' first year in 1995. UC Santa Barbara closed out the '99 season with a 17-7 record, placing sixth at the Collegiate Nationals after falling to San Diego State in the fifth-place game.
UCLA vs. Stanford: Stanford is currently 12-3 on the season with losses coming at the hands of California and USC. After falling to the Stanford Cardinal twice in two close matches this season, the UCLA Bruins are looking to avenge their losses at home this week. On February 12, Stanford defeated UCLA 5-3 at the UC San Diego Tournament, however the Bruins bounced back from the loss to capture the tournament title. Two weeks later, the Cardinal defeated UCLA 5-4 at the UC Santa Barbara Tournament but eventually fell 8-7 to rival California in the championship match. Despite two losses to Stanford this season, UCLA owns an impressive 11-4 series advantage over the Cardinal. At the Collegiate Nationals last year, Stanford took an exhausting 7-6 five-overtime sudden death loss to USC in the final, closing the season with a 25-6 overall record.
Last Week: Freshman Jessica Lopez scored three goals to lead the No. 3 UCLA Bruins to a 10-8 victory last Thursday over the host No. 4 USC Trojans in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at McDonald's Swim Stadium. UCLA has won all three meetings this season between the two teams. Down 1-0 after the first period, the Bruins exploded for four goals in the second and third periods. Both teams scored three times each in the first 2:30 of the third period.
Also registering points for UCLA were senior captain Catharine von Schwarz and Kelly Heuchan, who both recorded two goals. Erin Golaboksi, Carly Herrera and Kristin Guerin each added a goal apiece.
UCLA in the Polls: For the second straight week, UCLA is ranked No. 3 in the latest edition of the U.S. Water Polo Poll, which was released on March 8.
