Squaring off for the NCAA Championship on May 13, both the Stanford and UCLA women’s water polo teams knew that early momentum would be the key to the game. In the teams’ first three meetings of the season, the squad that scored first was ultimately the victor on each occasion — and the NCAA title match proved no different.

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Wes Mateo

Women’s water polo earned its No. 1 ranking after an upset over UCLA early in the season, but couldn’t pull through to the end. The rival Bruins took both the MPSF and NCAA Championship titles in close matches against the Card.

With energy levels high and a palpable tension in the air, the second-seeded Bruins took first blood midway through the first period en route to building a commanding 3-0 lead. The Stanford defense eventually managed to contain the UCLA onslaught, and the Cardinal attack came to life in the final period of play, as the top-seeded Stanford women clawed their way back to within a single goal of the Bruins.

But sophomore Lolo Silver’s bid to tie the score in the waning moments of the game came up just short, as the Bruins held on to claim their third consecutive national championship by a narrow 5-4 margin.

“Coming in, we knew we needed to take a lead early,” Stanford head coach John Tanner said. “UCLA is a very emotional team that plays great with a lead, and giving up a three-goal deficit is no way to close the lid on such an incredibly talented and emotionally charged team.”

UCLA junior Courtney Mathewson put the Bruins on the board with a power-play goal with 3:11 remaining in the first, and junior Jillian Kraus followed two minutes later by burying a shot from the perimeter to put the Bruins up 2-0. The UCLA lead grew to three as the Stanford offense continued to struggle to find any rhythm whatsoever. Silver gave the Cardinal a small burst of momentum by sneaking a shot from the right wing past Bruin goalie Emily Feher, bringing the score to 3-1 at the half.

But neither team was able to muster much offense in the third period, as the lone scoring highlight came when Mathewson notched her second goal of the game to push the UCLA lead back to three.

As the final period began, the Stanford women were playing as much against the clock as they were playing against the Bruins. But senior Katie Hansen won the opening sprint for the first time of the match, and Silver capitalized on the opportunity by rifling a long shot from eight meters away and into the top right corner of the cage. The Stanford bench exploded a minute later when Silver scored her third of the game on a perfectly directed lob over Feher’s head, bringing the score to 4-3.

UCLA head coach Adam Krikorian immediately called a timeout to slow things down, and the strategy worked as Mathewson responded with what eventually proved to be the game-winning goal on the Bruins’ next possession. Stanford sophomore Kira Hillman converted a six-on-five advantage at 5:38, but that was all the UCLA defense would surrender for the remainder of the game.

The Cardinal had one final shot in the last minute of the game as Tanner called a timeout to set up his team’s final play. But after cutting around a screen from senior Christina Hewko, Silver was unable to get off a strong shot under pressure from UCLA defender Kacy Kunkel. The ball bobbed up to the cage, where Feher scooped it up to seal the UCLA victory.

“[Silver] played a great game, so I figured [their final play] was going to be something centered around trying to get the ball to her,” Krikorian said. “[Kacy’s] done a great job of blocking for us, so I wanted to get her up on [Silver]. We’re fortunate the ball slipped away because it’s a game of inches, and if it hadn’t slipped away, maybe they would have drawn an ejection or maybe it would have gone into the goal.”

Despite outplaying the Bruins in both ends of the pool in the second half, the Stanford squad was left to wonder what might have been had they executed earlier in the game.

“Missing on our first two power plays and going down by three was a lot to come back from,” Tanner said. “But, I was proud of our defensive effort and tenacity in the second half. I was a little too conservative on defense [at the start], but when I turned our two-meter defenders loose to press in front of the goal, UCLA really had no offense to speak of. And if we had nailed down that six-on-five at the end there, we might still be playing, or even celebrating, right now.”

For the season, Stanford finished 23-7 overall, with a perfect, 12-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation record. The MPSF tournament final, though, also proved a UCLA upset as the Bruins clawed over the top-seeded Cardinal, 9-3.

Yet despite the similarly disappointing result of the squad’s final contest at the NCAAs, senior Alison Gregorka chose to emphasize the many positives her team will have to look back on from this year.

“It was a great season to end on, even though it was an unfortunate way to end it,” the departing co-captain said. “It was a tough game, but we fought ‘til the end and we left it all in the pool.”