No. 4 UCLA Opens MPSF Play with No. 3 California

SOCIAL MEDIA: WWP on Twitter | WWP on Facebook | WWP on Instagram

LOS ANGELES – No. 4 UCLA (16-3, 0-0 MPSF) opens MPSF play at home with No. 3 California (10-2, 0-0) on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. PT at Dirks Pool at Spieker Aquatics Center.

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
Sunday, Mar. 3 (MPSF Opener)
12:00 PM PT – No. 4 UCLA vs. No. 3 California

Saturday, Mar. 16 (MPSF Doubleheader at Arizona State)
11:30 AM PT – No. 4 UCLA vs. No. 9 Arizona State
3:00 PM PT – No. 4 UCLA vs. No. 20 Indiana

Recapping Last Week
Third-ranked UCLA placed fourth at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational at UC Irvine. The Bruins opened with a dominant 16-6 victory over No. 17 Long Beach State. The Bruins were led by senior Sarah Sheldon who scored a season-high and career-high-tying three goals. Other Bruins with multiple goals included junior Maddie Musselman, senior Louise Hazell and freshmen Bella Baia and Val Ayala, each with two scores. Senior Carlee Kapana started in goal for UCLA, playing the first half, registering six saves while allowing two goals. Sophomore Jahmea Bent came on in relief in the second half and tallied a season- and career-high-tying nines saves while surrendering four goals. Then on Saturday, UCLA split a pair of games posting a 15-5 victory over No. 6 Michigan in the afternoon and then suffering a 10-4 setback to No. 2 Stanford in the semifinals in the evening at UC Irvine Aquatics Center. In the win over the Wolverines, the Bruins were led by junior Maddie Musselman who scored a hat trick. Other Bruins with multiple goals included senior Sarah Sheldon, freshmen Bella Baia, sophomore Roxy Wheaton and junior Bronte Halligan, each with two scores. Senior Carlee Kapana started in goal for UCLA, playing the first three quarters and recording nine saves while allowing three goals. Sophomore Jahmea Bent came in for relief in the fourth quarter and tallied three saves while surrendering two scores. In the loss to the Cardinal, the Bruins were led by junior Maddie Musselman who scored two goals. Senior Carlee Kapana started in goal for UCLA, going the distance and recording 11 saves while allowing 10 goals. The Bruins settled for fourth place after dropping an overtime heartbreaker to No. 4 California (10-2) on Sunday afternoon, 7-6. In the loss to the Golden Bears, the Bruins were led by junior Maddie Musselman who scored two goals. Senior Carlee Kapana started in goal for UCLA, going the distance, recording 10 saves while surrendering seven goals..

Best Start for Bruins Since 2008
Before its 10-3 loss to No. 1 USC in the championship game of the Triton Invitational (Feb. 9), the UCLA Bruins opened the 2019 season at 13-0, which is the best start in 11 years. In 2008, the Bruins went 33-0, winning the program's seventh NCAA Championship.

Bruins in the MPSF Stats
Just two Bruins are currently ranked in the top 25 in the MPSF in scoring, led by Maddie Musselman's 2.53 goals per game (38 goals in 15 games), which ranks third in the league. Freshman Val Ayala ranks 16th with a 1.47 goals per game average (28 goals in 19 games). In the goalie rankings, senior Carlee Kapana ranks 2nd in saves per game (9.91 spg) while sophomore Jahmea Bent ranks 5th (8.99 spg). Kapana ranks 4th in the MPSF in goals against average at 6.40 while Bent ranks seventh at 7.47.

Ava Johnson Named MPSF/KAP7 Newcomer of the Week
UCLA freshman Ava Johnson (Walnut Creek, Calif./Las Lomas HS) was named the MPSF/KAP7 Newcomer of the Week as announced by the league office on Feb. 19. The freshman center led the Bruins in scoring with her second hat trick of the season in a 13-10 overtime win over No. 7 UC Irvine (Feb. 16). Johnson scored all three goals on power plays, with the first being the only goal of the second period. She would net the eventual game-winning goal in the first overtime period and would add the final score of the game in the second overtime. Johnson also drew a team-high four exclusions in the win. She has scored eight goals in her last five outings after scoring just four goals in her first 10 games. This is the first career MPSF honor for Johnson.

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 women's water polo coach in 2019 with an overall record of 39-11 (.780) 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 slid a spot to No. 4 in the 2019 CWPA National Women's Varsity Top 25 Poll (33 points, lost three points), released on Feb. 27.

2019 WOMEN'S VARSITY TOP 25 (WEEK 6 - Feb. 27)
Rank	Team	Last Week's Poll	Points
1	USC	1	100
2	Stanford	2	96
3	California	4	92
4	UCLA	3	88
5	Hawai'i	5	84
6	Pacific	10	80
7	Michigan	6	76
8	UC Irvine	7	70
9	Arizona State	8	69
10	UC Santa Barbara	9	64
11	UC Davis	11	59
12	Loyola Marymount	12	57
13	Fresno State	15	48
14	UC San Diego	17 (T)	40
15 (T)	Wagner	19 (T)	39
15 (T)	Long Beach State	17 (T)	39
15 (T)	Harvard	16	39
18	Princeton	14	35
19	San Jose State	13	34
20	Indiana	19 (T)	26
21	Marist	22 (T)	19
22	San Diego State	25 (T)	16
23	CSUN	21	13
24 (T)	Cal Baptist	24	7
24 (T)	Bucknell	22 (T)	7
RV	Azusa Pacific	25 (T)	3
RV	Brown	RV	1

Recent Results

Upcoming Events

No. 4 UCLA Opens MPSF Play with No. 3 California

2019 WOMEN'S VARSITY TOP 25 (WEEK 6 - Feb. 27)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Val Ayala

Bella Baia

Jahmea Bent

Devin Grab

Bronte Halligan

Louise Hazell

Ava Johnson

Carlee Kapana

Maddie Musselman

Sarah Sheldon

Roxy Wheaton

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

No. 4 UCLA Opens MPSF Play with No. 3 California

2019 WOMEN'S VARSITY TOP 25 (WEEK 6 - Feb. 27)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Val Ayala

Bella Baia

Jahmea Bent

Devin Grab

Bronte Halligan

Louise Hazell

Ava Johnson

Carlee Kapana

Maddie Musselman

Sarah Sheldon

Roxy Wheaton

Related Videos