No. 3 UCLA Heads to UC San Diego

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LOS ANGELES – No. 3 UCLA (10-0, 0-0 MPSF) hits the road this week to compete in the Triton Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 9 through Sunday, Feb. 10. The Bruins will open tournament play with Santa Clara on Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. PT at Triton Pool in La Jolla, Calif. Should the Bruins win, they will advance to play the winner of No. 11 UC Davis/No. 25 Marist at 2:40 p.m. PT. The Bruins are in Bracket B and should they advance to the semifinals, will meet the winner of Bracket C, which includes No. 6 UC Irvine, No. 7 UC Santa Barbara, No. 20 UC San Diego and Cal State East Bay. On the other side of the bracket (A & D), is No. 1 USC, No. 8 Michigan, No. 9 Arizona State, No. 13 Loyola Marymount, No. 16 Long Beach State, No. 21 CSUN, No. 22 San Diego State and Pomona-Pitzer.

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
Saturday, Feb. 9 (Triton Pool)
8:00 AM PT – No. 3 UCLA vs. Santa Clara
2:40 PM PT – No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 11 UC Davis/No. 25 Marist

Sunday, Feb. 10 (Triton Pool)
12:30 PM PT – Semifinals vs. Bracket C winner
5:50 PM PT – Championship Game vs. Bracket A/D winner

Recapping Last Week
The third-ranked UCLA Bruins continued its undefeated season with three wins over nationally-ranked teams at home on Feb. 1-2. The Bruins opened the weekend with an impressive 12-8 win over previously unbeaten No. 5 Hawai'i (4-0) on Feb. 1 with junior attacker Maddie Musselman leading the team in scoring with a career-high-tying five goals for the fifth time in her collegiate career. Then on a rainy Saturday morning (Feb. 2), the Bruins rallied to defeat No.15 Loyola Marymount, 9-8, with senior Rachel Whitelegge scoring two goals in the final quarter. After sitting out the game against the Lions, Musselman returned to the lineup to score another five goals to lead UCLA to an 11-8 win over No. 14 Fresno State.

Bruins Off to Hot Start
For the third consecutive season, the Bruins have started 10-0 or better. All 10 wins so far this season are to teams ranked in the Top 25 with three of them coming against Top 10 teams (No. 5 Hawai'i, No. 6 UC Irvine, and No. 9 Michigan).

Bruins in the MPSF Stats
Three Bruins are currently ranked in the top 25 in the MPSF in scoring, led by Maddie Musselman's 3.17 goals per game (19 goals in six games) to rank third in the league. Freshman Val Ayala currently ranks 16th with a 1.80 goals per game average (18 goals in 10 games). Junior Bronte Halligan is tied for 19th in the MPSF in scoring with a 1.67 goals per game average (10 goals in six games). In the goalie rankings, senior Carlee Kapana ranks 2nd in saves per game (9.57 spg) while sophomore Jahmea Bent ranks 7th (7.17 spg). Kapana ranks 3rd in the MPSF in goals against average at 6.89 while Bent ranks seventh at 7.66.

Val Ayala Named MPSF/KAP7 Newcomer of the Week
UCLA freshman Val Ayala (Anaheim, Calif./Foothill HS) was named the MPSF/KAP7 Newcomer of the Week as announced by the league office on Jan. 22. The freshman attacker led the Bruins in scoring this past weekend as UCLA went 5-0 with five wins over nationally ranked teams. Ayala registered three hat tricks, opening her collegiate career with three scores in a 10-6 win over No. 18 CSUN. She completed another hat trick in another 10-6 win over No. 6 UC Irvine. She tacked on one goal in a 17-8 win over No. 24 Cal Baptist and then scored three more in a 9-7 outcome over No. 9 Michigan. In all, Ayala scored 10 goals while collecting three assists, three steals and two drawn exclusions. This is the first career MPSF honor for Ayala.

Coaching Changes
During the offseason, UCLA men's water polo hired Christopher Lee as an assistant coach to replace Dustin Litvak, who was hired to be the head men's water polo coach at Princeton.

Wright on Deck
Adam Wright is in his second season as UCLA's head men's water polo coach in 2019 with an overall record of 33-8 (.805) and an MPSF mark of 2-3 (.400). On July 20, 2017, UCLA Director of Athletics, Dan Guerrero, announced that Wright will guide both the UCLA men's and women's water polo teams.

Recapping 2018
Overall Record: 23-8 | Final Ranking: 4th | NCAA Finish: T-3rd | MPSF Tournament Finish: 4th

UCLA advanced to the semifinal round of the NCAA Tournament in head coach Adam Wright's first season at the helm of the program. The Bruins' 8-4 win over Pacific at USC secured their eighth consecutive appearance in the national semifinals. Sophomore Maddie Musselman secured ACWPC All-America acclaim for the second time in her career. Senior Devin Grab registered her second selection as a second-team All-American. UCLA also saw Bronte Halligan pick up third-team honors while Carlee Kapana was named an honorable mention All-America selection. In total, 12 Bruins claimed ACWPC All-Academic honors.

UCLA In The CWPA Poll
The Bruins remained at No. 3 in the 2019 CWPA National Women's Varsity Top 25 Poll (92 points, no change), released on Jan. 30.

2019 WOMEN'S VARSITY TOP 25 (WEEK 3 - Feb. 6)
Rank	Team	Last Week's Poll	Points
1	USC	1	100
2	Stanford	2	96
3	UCLA	3	92
4	California	4	88
5	Hawai'i	7	84
6	UC Irvine	6	81
7	UC Santa Barbara	10	72
8	Michigan	8 (T)	69
9	Arizona State	7	67
10	Pacific	8 (T)	65
11	UC Davis	13	64
12	San Jose State	11	54
13	Loyola Marymount	15	52
14	Princeton	12	47
15	Fresno State	14	46
16	Long Beach State	17	36
17	Harvard	18	35
18	Wagner	16	32
19	Indiana	19	22
20	UC San Diego	21	21
21	CSUN	22	18
22	San Diego State	23	14
23	Cal Baptist	24	13
24	Bucknell	RV	12
25 (T)	Azusa Pacific	25	10
25 (T)	Marist	20	10
RV	Brown	RV	1
RV	Cal State East Bay	RV	1

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No. 3 UCLA Heads to UC San Diego

2019 WOMEN'S VARSITY TOP 25 (WEEK 3 - Feb. 6)

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Players Mentioned

Val Ayala

Jahmea Bent

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Bronte Halligan

Carlee Kapana

Maddie Musselman

Rachel Whitelegge

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

No. 3 UCLA Heads to UC San Diego

2019 WOMEN'S VARSITY TOP 25 (WEEK 3 - Feb. 6)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Val Ayala

Jahmea Bent

Devin Grab

Bronte Halligan

Carlee Kapana

Maddie Musselman

Rachel Whitelegge

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