Friday, September 22
Los Angeles, CA
2:40 PM
UCLA
at
Loyola Marymount
Freshman Felix Brozyna-Vilim drags a Gaucho defender and scores with a lob shot in the win over UCSB.
Photo by: Don Liebig, UCLA Photography
No. 4 UCLA Looks to Defend Title
September 21, 2017 | Men's Water Polo
The Bruins won the inaugural Mountain Pacific Invitational last year at California.
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ON DECK THIS WEEK
No. 4 UCLA (8-0) is seeded fourth for the three-day (Sept. 22-24) Mountain Pacific Invitational this week at co-hosts Loyola Marymount and USC. The Bruins will open at No. 20 Loyola Marymount (3-4) on Friday, Sept. 22 at 2:40 p.m. at LMU's Burns Recreation Center. Win and the Bruins will face the winner of No. 5 Pacific/No. 13 UC San Diego in the quarterfinals on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 10:15 a.m. at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center. For all of the tournament information with brackets, scores and live stats, please click here.
MOUNTAIN PACIFIC INVITATIONAL HISTORY
This is just the second year the Mountain Pacific Invitational has existed and was designed as the premier regular-season tournament in the country. The Bruins won last year's tournament, defeating Pomona-Pitzer 18-7 in the first round. UCLA then defeated Pepperdine 11-5 in the quarterfinals and knocked off Pacific, 8-5 in the semifinals to face the hosts California. The Bruins had no problem with the Golden Bears in the title game, winning 10-7. That victory was crucial to UCLA's chances of breaking the NCAA and UCLA records for most consecutive wins, which they ultimately did two weeks later, with another win over Pacific and at UC Davis. This year's event is being co-hosted by USC and Loyola Marymount. The three-day tournament includes 14 of the top 20 teams around the nation, including all of the teams in the top 10.
REHASHING LAST WEEK
UCLA hosted No. 7 UC Santa Barbara on Friday night (Sept. 15) and trailed 3-0 near the end of the first period. But the Bruins outscored the Gauchos 9-1 in a span of 20 minutes to post a 10-5 victory. Freshman Nicolas Saveljic led all scorers with four goals while senior Alex Roelse added a hat trick. Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Alex Wolf registered 15 saves.
NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Freshman Nicolas Saveljic (Kotor, Montenegro) was named MPSF/KAP7 Newcomer of the Week for the second week in a row after scoring four goals for the third-straight game, leading all scorers in the Bruins' only game of the week, a 10-5 win over No. 7 UC Santa Barbara. With UCLA trailing 3-1 at the end of the first quarter, Saveljic scored back-to-back second period goals on a power play and a penalty shot to tie the game at 3-3. He opened the third quarter with a front court score on the Bruins' opening possession and then ended the period with a power play goal to give UCLA a 9-4 lead. He enters the week with an MPSF-high 20 goals on the year (2.50 GPG). Saveljic is the first-ever back-to-back MPSF Men's Water Polo Newcomer of the Week.
MPSF/KAP7 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
UCLA redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Alex Wolf (Huntington Beach, Calif.) was named MPSF/KAP7 Player of the Week on Sept. 18. He registered 15 saves in the Bruins' 10-5 win over No. 7 UC Santa Barbara on Friday (Sept. 15). Wolf allowed three goals in the first quarter as UCLA trailed 3-0, but registered 13 saves over the next three periods while shutting out the Gauchos in the third and allowing just one goal each in the second and fourth quarters to help complete the come-from-behind win to stay unbeaten (8-0). He also recorded one assist and one steal. This is Wolf's first career MPSF weekly award.
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.
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 is in his ninth season as UCLA's head men's water polo coach in 2017 with an overall record of 214-33 (.866) 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
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
UTL
/ Men's Water Polo
GK
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
/ Men's Water Polo
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