No. 1 UCLA Opens Five-Game Home Stand on Friday Night

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LOS ANGELES – No. 1 UCLA (10-0, 0-0 MPSF WEST) opens a five-game home stand this week, beginning with No. 12 UC Santa Barbara (10-4, 0-0 Big West). The Bruins and the Gauchos will square off on Friday night (Sept. 27) under the lights at Dirks Pool at Spieker Aquatics Center at 7:00 p.m. PT. UCLA will host a double-header on Saturday (Sept. 28) when they take on No. 15 LMU (3-5, 0-0 WCC) at 1:00 p.m. PT followed by (RV) Air Force (8-6, 0-0 WCC) at 3:00 p.m. PT. Every game this week will be streamed live on Overnght.com and UCLA will also provide live stats on 6-8Sports.com. You can also follow along with live scoring updates on the Bruins' official account on Twitter|X.

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
Friday, Sept. 27 (Nonconference Game - Spieker Aquatics Center - Game 11)
7:00 PM PT – No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 12 UC Santa Barbara | WATCH | LIVE STATS

Saturday, Sept. 28 (Nonconference Games - Spieker Aquatics Center - Games 12 and 13)
1:00 PM PT – No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 15 LMU | WATCH | LIVE STATS
3:00 PM PT – No. 1 UCLA vs. (RV) Air Force | WATCH | LIVE STATS

SERIES HISTORY
• UCLA is 112-17-1 all-time against UC Santa Barbara. The Bruins defeated the Gauchos earlier this year at the Triton Invitational, 13-7, to open the season on Sept. 7.
• UCLA is 31-0 all-time against LMU. The Bruins beat the Lions 17-10 at LMU on Nov. 5, 2022.
• UCLA is 26-0 all-time against Air Force. The Bruins defeated the Falcons 14-8 last year at home on Sept. 30.

RECAPPING LAST WEEK
The top-ranked Bruins won the 2024 Overnght/MPSF Invitational last week in Berkeley, Calif., successfully defending its title from 2023. The Bruins opened with a 17-16 overtime win over No. 7 Princeton (Sept. 20) and then defeated No. 15 UC San Diego, 13-7, and No. 6 California, 12-7, to win the group (Sept. 21) and advance to the title game. In the finals, the Bruins defeated No. 3 USC, 12-9, to claim the crown (Sept. 22).

KENNEY NAMED MPSF WEST/DELFINA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
UCLA graduate attacker Makoto Kenney (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS) was named the MPSF West/Delfina Player of the Week as announced by the league office on Sept. 23. Kenney helped lead UCLA to a 4-0 record this past week, defending its Overnght/MPSF Invitational crown (Sept. 20-22) with six goals and 16 assists for a total of 22 points to match his cap number. The Bruins are the only undefeated team in the MPSF and have won 35 consecutive regular season games dating back to an overtime loss on Oct. 29, 2022. He scored a season-high four times and added six assists vs. No. 7 Princeton, and collected two assists and a steal in one half vs. No. 15 UC San Diego. Kenney then had three assists in the 12-7 win over No. 6 Cal, and scored a game-high seven points in the 12-9 title win over No. 3 USC with two goals and five assists. He provided the assist on the eventual title-winning goal. Both of his goals (one each in the second and fourth periods) came as the shot clock buzzer was sounding. This is the second career MPSF weekly award for Kenney.

BRINKEMA NAMED UCLA'S STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Freshman Bode Brinkema of UCLA Men's Water Polo was selected the Student-Athlete of the Week on Sept. 18 for competitions held between Sept. 10-16. The freshman tied for the team lead in scoring with four goals, leading top-ranked UCLA to a pair of wins over nationally-ranked teams to improve to 6-0 on the year. The Bruins opened the week with a 12-9 win at No. 9 UC Irvine with Brinkema scoring once, picking up one steal, and drawing one exclusion. Then he scored the first hat trick (on just three shots) of his collegiate career in the Bruins' 19-8 home-opening win over No. 20 California Baptist University. He also registered two steals and an assist against the Lancers.

RYDER DODD NAMED UCLA'S STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Freshman Ryder Dodd of UCLA Men's Water Polo was selected the Student-Athlete of the Week on Sept. 11 for competitions held between Sept. 3-9. Dodd made a big splash in the opening weekend of his collegiate career, leading top-ranked UCLA in scoring with 12 goals en route to a 4-0 record that included wins over two ranked teams at the Triton Invitational. He scored multiple goals in all four outings, including hat tricks in the first three games. He opened with three goals and an assist in the 13-7 win over No. 11 UC Santa Barbara and followed that with a four-goal, one-assist outing in the 26-7 win over Concordia University Irvine. Then on Sunday, he had another hat trick to go with five assists, two steals, a field block, and drew one exclusion in the 24-4 win over Pomona-Pitzer. He concluded the weekend with two goals in the 15-7 win at No. 12 UC San Diego.

UCLA PICKED TO WIN THE MPSF
UCLA collected 60 points and five first-place votes in topping the 2024 MPSF Men's Water Polo Western Division Preseason Coaches' poll. The Bruins return seven of their top-eight scorers and a starting goalkeeper from an NCAA runner-up season, including Delfina All-MPSF selections Jack Larsen (40 goals), Makoto Kenney (27 goals), and goalkeeper Garret Griggs (238 saves, 8.95 GAA). Also returning are MPSF Newcomer of the Year Ben Liechty (41 goals), Frederico Jucá Carsalade (32 goals), and Giorgio Alessandria (21 goals) from All-Conference Second-Team honors, as are Honorable Mention picks Ben Larsen (25 goals) and Marcell Szécsi (23 goals).

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
The Bruins return four of the five All-Americans from the 2023 season and another All-American from the 2022 season for the 2024 campaign. Olympian Chase Dodd (39 goals in 2022) has returned to campus for his junior season while the Bruins welcome back three super seniors that have decided to utilize their COVID years in 2024 and that trio includes All-Americans Jack Larsen (First Team), Garret Griggs (Second Team), and Makoto Kenney (Second Team). Ben Liechty, the 2024 MPSF Newcomer of the Year, is back after being named to the Honorable Mention All-America team last year. UCLA lost the services of Rafael Real Vergara (First Team, 71 goals).

RETURNING ALL-MPSF PLAYERS
Last year, UCLA had a school-record nine players earn 2023 Delfina All-MPSF West accolades, highlighted by MPSF Player of the Year, Rafael Real Vergara (71 goals, graduated). Of those nine, seven return, highlighted by three super seniors in graduate attacker Jack Larsen (40 goals, returning using COVID year), graduate attacker Makoto Kenney (27 goals, returning using COVID year), and graduate goalkeeper Garret Griggs (25 starts, 22-3 record, 238 saves, 8.95 goals against average, returning using COVID year), who were all named First-Team All-MPSF in 2023. Sophomore utility Ben Liechty (MPSF Newcomer of the Year in 2023, 41 goals, leading scorer returning), and redshirt sophomore attacker Frederico Jucá Carsalade (32 goals, returning), were named to the Second-Team All-MPSF a year ago. Redshirt sophomore utility Ben Larsen (25 goals, returning), and sophomore center Marcell Szécsi (23 goals, returning) both earned honorable mention honors from the league last year. In addition to losing Real Vergara, the Bruins also lost the services of Second-Teamer Giorgio Alessandria (21 goals, graduated).

SUPER SENIORS
Super senior goalkeeper Garret Griggs, super senior attacker Jack Larsen, and super senior attacker Makoto Kenney have all decided to return to Westwood for a fifth and final season. The trio have been afforded the opportunity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PARIS OLYMPIANS JOIN THE BRUINS
Redshirt Junior attacker Chase Dodd and his younger brother, freshman Ryder Dodd, have arrived on campus after winning bronze at the Paris Olympic Games this summer with Team USA and are ready to go for the 2024 campaign.

FRESH FACES
Arriving in Westwood this season and looking to make an immediate impact are a pair of graduate transfers in Pepperdine center defender Nico Tierney (38 goals last year, 137 career) and UC Davis center defender Aaron Voggenthaler (42 goals last year, 80 career). The Bruins also welcome in eight freshmen which includes Olympian attacker Ryder Dodd (Long Beach, Calif./JSerra Catholic HS), utility Bode Brinkema (JSerra Catholic HS), utility Peter Castillo (Newport Harbor HS), attacker Alex Heenan (Harvard-Westlake School), goalkeeper Joey Kent (JSerra Catholic HS), attacker Andrew Spencer (Sacred Heart Prep), goalkeeper Nick Tovani (San Ramon Valley HS), and center defender Harry Tucker (Perth, Australia).

A CHAMPIONSHIP PROGRAM
The UCLA Bruins captured their 12th NCAA Championship in men's water polo with a 7-6 win at USC on Mar. 21, 2021, at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The win also marked the 119th NCAA Championship for the UCLA Athletic Department. It was a balanced scoring effort by the Bruins, who received goals from six different players. Junior Jake Cavano, who was named to the 2020 First-Team All-NCAA Tournament, scored two goals, including the eventual difference maker with 6:23 left in the game. Sophomore goalkeeper Bernardo Maurizi, who also was named First-Team All-NCAA Tournament, held the Trojans scoreless throughout the first half and racked up nine saves. UCLA never trailed in the game, though USC briefly pulled even at 4-4. Nicolas Saveljic was named the NCAA Tournament MVP.

THE WRIGHT STUFF
After guiding the Bruins to the NCAA Championship in 2020 and being named the ACWPC National Coach of the Year, Adam Wright returns for his 16th season as UCLA's head men's water polo coach in 2024 with an overall record of 354-66 (.843) and an MPSF mark of 67-24 (.736). His teams earned perfect APR (Academic Progress Rate) scores of 1,000 in 2014, 2015 and 2016 while winning the school's 112th, 113th and 114th NCAA Championships in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Wright added the fourth NCAA Championship to his resume as a head coach in 2020 (Mar. 21, 2021) and a fourth perfect APR score in 2021. On July 20, 2017, then-UCLA Director of Athletics, Dan Guerrero, announced that Wright will guide both the UCLA men's and women's water polo teams. Wright was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame on June 20, 2019, and to the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020. On March 22, 2022, UCLA Director of Athletics, Martin Jarmond, announced that Wright had signed a new six-year contract, starting in July of 2022, as the Head Coach for both of the Bruins' Men's and Women's Water Polo programs.

RECAPPING 2023
Overall Record: 26-3 | Final Ranking: 2nd | NCAA Finish: 2nd | MPSF Tournament Finish: 4th

The UCLA Bruins made their 38^th appearance in the NCAA Championship in 2023, finishing with a nation's best 26-3 (.897) record. The Bruins fell one win short of the NCAA Championship, falling to California, 13-11, in the finals. UCLA opened the season with 24 consecutive victories, tying for the third-best mark in school history (1968-70). Wright guided the Bruins to an unbeaten 23-0 regular season, the first undefeated regular season in the MPSF since UCLA's 2015 team. Eight of UCLA's wins were against MPSF West teams, including seven against top five competition, and 16 of the 23 overall wins came against top 10 opponents. The Bruins scored in double-digits in all 23 contests, and held opponents to single-digits 16 times. UCLA placed an MPSF-high nine players on the All-MPSF teams in 2023, including four on the first team. Wright was named MPSF Coach of the Year for the third time in his career (2011, 2017, 2023).

POLLING THE BRUINS
UCLA held steady at No. 1 in this week's CWPA National Men's Varsity Top 20 Poll (100 points), released on Sept. 25.

2024 Men's Varsity Top 20 (Week 3/September 25)
Rank	Team	Week 2 Poll	Points
1	UCLA	1	100
2	USC	3	94
3	Stanford	2	91
4	Pepperdine	4	82
5	Pacific	5	80
6	California	6	77
7	Princeton	7	71
8	UC Irvine	8	61
9 (T)	Long Beach State	10 (T)	56
9 (T)	San Jose State	9	56
9 (T)	Fordham	10 (T)	56
12	UC Santa Barbara	13	46
13	UC Davis	12	35
14	Harvard	14	34
15	LMU	15 (T)	31
16	UC San Diego	15 (T)	29
17	Navy	17	16
18	Santa Clara	18	14
19	Brown	19	11
20	California Baptist University	20	9
RV	Air Force	RV	3
RV	Bucknell	NR	1
RV	Wagner College	NR	1
RV	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	RV	1

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No. 1 UCLA Opens Five-Game Home Stand on Friday Night

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Players Mentioned

Giorgio Alessandria

Bode Brinkema

Peter Castillo

Jake Cavano

Chase Dodd

Ryder Dodd

Garret Griggs

Garret Griggs

Alex Heenan

Makoto Kenney

Makoto Kenney

Joey Kent

Ben Larsen

Ben Larsen

Jack Larsen

Jack Larsen

Ben Liechty

Ben Liechty

Bernardo Maurizi

Rafael Real Vergara

Andrew Spencer

Nico Tierney

Nick Tovani

Harry Tucker

Aaron Voggenthaler

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

No. 1 UCLA Opens Five-Game Home Stand on Friday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Giorgio Alessandria

Bode Brinkema

Peter Castillo

Jake Cavano

Chase Dodd

Ryder Dodd

Garret Griggs

Garret Griggs

Alex Heenan

Makoto Kenney

Makoto Kenney

Joey Kent

Ben Larsen

Ben Larsen

Jack Larsen

Jack Larsen

Ben Liechty

Ben Liechty

Bernardo Maurizi

Rafael Real Vergara

Andrew Spencer

Nico Tierney

Nick Tovani

Harry Tucker

Aaron Voggenthaler

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