April 23, 2007
DAVIS, Calif. - The ninth-ranked UC Davis women's water polo team has won 23 games, its highest total since 1999, and has surrendered just one loss against the Western Water Polo Association. The team's total of 342 goals scored has already shattered the previous mark of 321, set by the 2002 squad, which did it in five more contests. Furthermore, the Aggies rank among the nation's top four teams in both offense and defense, a feat matched only by the likes of UCLA and Stanford this year.
Despite all this, UC Davis head coach Jamey Wright refuses to exhibit any overconfidence in his team's chances at the upcoming WWPA Championships, held at UC Santa Cruz from Friday through Sunday. The Aggies should hold the top seed, holding a slightly stronger conference record than archnemesis Loyola Marymount, which has posted two WWPA losses this year.
"I don't think you ever feel as ready as you want to be, and there are still things we have to work on this week," said Wright. "I think the biggest advantage we have working for us is that we went through it last year. But we still have to approach it one possession at a time, one quarter at a time and one game at a time. We can't worry about LMU until we get to where we play LMU. We have to worry about the San Diegos and Bakersfields and East Bays first."
Nonetheless, the eighth-ranked Lions will provide much of the focus for the Aggies during the upcoming week. After all, it was LMU that snapped UC Davis' seven-game winning streak on March 24, avenging a 7-6 loss at the UC Irvine Invitational exactly one month prior. The 7-5 Lion victory, held in Los Angeles at LMU's home pool, remains the Aggies' only setback in WWPA play this year.
Moreover, it was LMU that fell victim to UC Davis in last year's WWPA title game. In that contest, Cassie Schaefer scored four goals and Katherine O'Rourke hit the game-winner in an 8-7 upset over the top-seeded Lions, lifting the Aggies to their first-ever berth in the National Collegiate Championships. O'Rourke was selected as WWPA Most Valuble Player after the tournament. UC Davis went on to place fifth in the NCAA tournament, held at its own Schaal Aquatics Center.
"LMU has some players who are just ridiculously good. Stacia Peterson amazes me everytime I watch her play. Nicole Hughes is just a beast. Katie Hicks may be the fastest swimmer and best shooter in the whole conference," said Wright. "I think we have enough good defensive players that we can match up. It's only when they switch on us, then suddenly we have a mismatch and we give up a goal to Peterson. In a one-goal game, that one mistake makes the difference. So one thing we'll work on is individual one-on-one defense. As much as I like working on offense, it may come down to how well we defend their top players."
Wright certainly has his own share of weapons, possessing one of deepest and fastest teams in program history. O'Rourke and junior Christi Raycraft have combined for 100 goals this season, while all four other Aggies starters have scored at least 20 goals: junior Mary Lowe (32), junior Casie Mota (32), Schaefer (25) and junior Jessica Soza (23). On top of that, the second unit of Madeline Stephenson, Ashley Chandler, Laura Uribe, Ashley Greenwood, Sofia Patronas and Heidi Kucera could make a fine starting six in many programs. Add senior goalie Amber Korner and her 205 saves, and UC Davis quickly displays why it climbed as high as No. 6 in the national rankings this season.
"If we play LMU - and it will be in the championship game if we do - we need to make it an uptempo game," said Wright, who historically has opted to slow down and run a smart, patient offense. "LMU does a good job of helping back and getting their hands up. I'd love to push them up and down and make it a track meet.
"If we get into a run-and-gun situation, and they play six players while we play 12, that will help us in the second half. If we play at their tempo, then their six players will be able to play the whole game. We want to use our depth to our advantage."
Adding to Wright's challenge are the two teams' respsective April slates. Since going 4-0 at its own Aggie Shootout tournament on April 1, UC Davis has played only an exhibition game with its alumni and a 17-goal win over Pacific, which was missing its best player at the time. During the same span, the Lions have won six straight: a 9-7 win over 12th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, a 72-goal outburst against four WWPA foes at their own LMU Invitational, then an 11-9 win over 10th-ranked UC Irvine last Thursday.
Of course, to get to a title game with Loyola Marymount, the Aggies will have to battle through one of the strongest fields the conference has offered. Besides the top two seeds, the WWPA also boasts 15th-ranked UC San Diego, 17th-ranked Santa Clara and Cal State Bakersfield, which popped up into the national top 20 earlier this year. Having five WWPA teams among the top 20 is believed to be an all-time high for the conference.
Santa Clara finished its regular season at 21-12 and should earn the No. 3 seed, having twice defeated UC San Diego in one-goal games. The Broncos faced UC Davis in back-to-back weekends in March, falling by scores of 11-8 and 12-7 in the two meetings. SCU has won four straight heading into the conference tourney, scoring 52 goals during the stretch.
UC San Diego's 17-14 record may seem pedestrian in comparison to some of the program's recent seasons, but the Tritons are the only other WWPA team to have defeated Loyola Marymount this season. A last-minute 6-on-5 goal by senior Sarah Bajorek lifted UCSD to a 5-4 win over the Lions at Canyonview Pool on March 2, snapping LMU's 15-game series win streak. The Tritons also went 4-0 at the LMU Invitational in mid-April, then ended their regular season with a tough 9-8 loss to No. 11 Arizona State last Saturday.
Cal State Bakersfield has begun the transition to NCAA Division I membership, and its water polo team has shown evidence of the move this season. Sophomore Amanda Ortiz became the first Roadrunner in school history to break the century mark in a season, scoring her 106th goal at the LMU Invitational. Remarkably, her achievement may not stand alone for very long -- junior teammate Yulia Blinovskaya enters the WWPA Championships with 93 scores. CSUB posted one of its biggest wins of the year at Schaal Aquatics Center, tripping up Santa Clara by an 8-7 final at the Aggie Shootout.
Perhaps the most interesting entry in this year's conference tournament is third-year program Cal State Monterey Bay. Coached by U.S. Water Polo Hall of Famer Gary Figueroa, the Otters went 15-57 in their first two seasons, only to have awoken to a 16-17 mark this season. Providing concern to any WWPA team is their April 15 game at San Jose State, when CSUMB lost by just two goals to the No.8 Spartans. Then again, good things happen when Chelsea Laning gets a hold of the ball. The junior center scored six goals against SJSU, part of a staggering season total of 137 scoring strikes.
The 12-team WWPA Championships take place at UC Santa Cruz from Friday through Sunday. Tournament schedules and official seedings will be announced later in the week. The winner of the tournament earns the league's automatic qualifying berth to the NCAA Championships at Los Alamitos Joint Forces Base on May 11-13.
