Friday, September 15
Los Angeles, CA
7:00 PM
UCLA
vs
UC Santa Barbara
The 2017 UCLA Bruins are 7-0 entering this week's only game against No. 7 UC Santa Barbara.
Photo by: Don Liebig, UCLA Photography
No. 4 UCLA Hosts No. 7 UCSB on Friday Night
September 14, 2017 | Men's Water Polo
The Bruins have won the last eight against the Gauchos and are 101-17-1 all-time vs. UC Santa Barbara.
SOCIAL MEDIA: MWP on Twitter | MWP on Facebook | MWP on Instagram
ON DECK THIS WEEK
No. 4 UCLA (7-0) returns home this week to host No. 7 UC Santa Barbara (4-2) under the lights of Dirks Pool at Spieker Aquatics Center on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. PT. It is the only game on the slate for the Bruins this week. Admission is free.
SERIES HISTORY
This is the 120th all-time meeting between UCLA and UC Santa Barbara with the Bruins leading the series 101-17-1 (.846). The Bruins won the most recent meeting, a 10-7 victory at UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 13, 2016. UCLA has won the last eight contests with the Gauchos. UCSB's last win came in Santa Barbara, an 11-10 win on Sept. 30, 2012.
REHASHING LAST WEEK
The Bruins traveled to Princeton, N.J., to take part in the Princeton Invitational. UCLA went 5-0 over the three-day event, defeating five ranked teams in the process. The Bruins opened with a 20-4 win over No. 17 George Washington and then followed that with a 12-3 win over No. 18 St. Francis Brooklyn on Friday. Then on Saturday, UCLA began the day at 7:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. PT) with an 18-8 victory over No. 16 Bucknell and concluded the day with an 18-2 win against No. 14 Brown. UCLA closed its trip on Sunday with a 14-8 victory at No. 11 Princeton in front of a nationally-televised audience on ESPNU.
NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
UCLA freshman Nicolas Saveljic (Kotor, Montenegro) was named MPSF/KAP7 Newcomer of the Week after scoring 12 goals in five games last week, as the Bruins went 5-0 vs. ranked teams at the Princeton Invitational (Sept. 8-10). He had four goals in a win at No. 11 Princeton and in a win over No. 14 Brown. He also scored twice in a win over No. 16 Bucknell and once each against No. 18 St. Francis Brooklyn and No. 17 George Washington. He added seven steals, four assists, two drawn exclusions and one field block through the invitational. Saveljic enters the week with an MPSF-high 16 goals on the year and ranks sixth in the league in goals per game at 2.29..
UCLA/MUSCLE MILK STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Senior attacker Max Irving of the UCLA men's water polo team has been voted the UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week for Sept. 4-10. Irving led UCLA in scoring over the weekend with 13 goals as the Bruins went 5-0 against five ranked teams at the Princeton Invitational. He had three hat tricks in the five games, including four goals in a win over No. 17 George Washington and three goals each in wins over No. 14 Brown and at No. 11 Princeton. Irving also had two goals in a win over No. 16 Bucknell and one goal in a win over No. 18 St. Francis Brooklyn. Irving also registered eight assists, eight steals, three field blocks and two drawn exclusions in the five games. Irving had a hand in eight of the 14 goals in the win over Princeton as he scored three and assisted on five more. This is Irving's first UCLA/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week honor of his career.
COACHING CHANGES
The UCLA men's water polo team has hired Bruin standout Ryder Roberts to the post of assistant coach and has promoted Jason Falitz to associate head coach, head coach Adam Wright announced on Aug. 16, 2017. Roberts has spent the past two years as an assistant boy's coach at Harvard-Westlake HS, while Falitz has served the last two seasons (2015 and 2016) as an assistant coach under coach Wright.
SUDDEN IMPACT
UCLA head men's water polo coach Adam Wright assembled a stellar class for 2017, featuring nine freshmen and one junior college transfer. Headlining the group is Nicolas Saveljic (6-7, ATK, Kotor, Montenegro). The class also includes three players from Harvard-Westlake High School, two from Huntington Beach High School and one each from Damien High School, Palm Desert High School and Las Lomas High School. The student-athletes from Harvard-Westlake include Evan Rosenfeld (6-3, UTL, Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Luke Henriksson (5-10, ATK, Bell Canyon, Calif.) and Felix Brozyna-Vilim (6-5, UTL, Santa Monica, Calif.). The two student-athletes from Huntington Beach HS include Patrick Saunders (6-2, GK, Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Quinten Osborne (6-4, CTR, Huntington Beach, Calif.). Bailey Jarvis (6-4, DEF, Walnut Creek, Calif., Las Lomas HS), Chasen Travisano (6-2, ATK, Glendora, Calif., Damien HS), and Ryan Sawyer (6-1, ATK, Palm Desert, Calif.) round out the eight freshmen in the class for 2017. The class also includes a sophomore transfer from Golden West College in Peter Lovas (6-3, ATK, Budapest, Hungary).
THE WRIGHT STUFF
Adam Wright begins his ninth season as UCLA's head men's water polo coach in 2017 with an overall record of 208-33 (.863) and an MPSF mark of 50-10 (.833). His teams earned perfect APR (Academic Progress Rate) scores of 1,000 in 2014 and 2015 while winning the school's 112th and 113th NCAA Championships. On July 20, 2017, UCLA Director of Athletics, Dan Guerrero, announced that Wright will now guide both the UCLA men's and women's water polo teams.
KEEPERS OF THE STREAK
During the 2016 season, UCLA set school, conference and national records for consecutive wins (57) in collegiate men's water polo. The 57-game winning streak was the second-longest streak among all sports at UCLA (men's basketball won 88 consecutive games from 1971-74). The Bruins finished the season 25-3 overall. The 57 straight victories dated back to the 2014 campaign, UCLA's first of two consecutive national titles. The Bruins also won an MPSF and UCLA record 26 straight league games dating back to the 2013 season.
Players Mentioned
UTL
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
/ Men's Water Polo
D
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
/ Men's Water Polo
C
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
/ Men's Water Polo
UTL
/ Men's Water Polo
GK
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
/ Men's Water PoloUCLA Men's Water Polo Ring Reveal
Wednesday, August 27
2024 UCLA Men's Water Polo NCAA Champions
Thursday, December 12
Highlights - UCLA M. Water Polo Celebrates NCAA Title
Sunday, December 08
Highlights - UCLA M. Water Polo vs. USC, NCAA Championship (Dec. 8, 2024)
Sunday, December 08