Sometimes a team can do everything right and yet its shots just don’t find the back of the net.
Unfortunately for the San Diego State women’s water polo team, this was the case last Saturday afternoon as it fell on the road to UCLA, 9-3, in its last conference match of the season.
“We just couldn’t put our shots away,” head coach Carin Crawford said. “A couple of them were field blocks, a couple we rushed a little bit, a couple of them hit the crossbar or post … It was really just a bad shooting day for us.”
Not that they didn’t have plenty of opportunities. SDSU had 11 six-on-five power play opportunities yet converted only once with a goal by junior Leanne Ford with nine seconds left in the game, but by then it was too little, too late. By the end of the first half UCLA (22-5, 4-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) was out to a 7-0 lead and it never looked back. The Aztecs didn’t find the goal until mid third quarter when junior Meaghan Poland connected on a one-timer. The Bruins quickly responded with a goal only a few minutes later and again early in the fourth quarter. Late goals by Ford and senior Sarah Brady brought the final score to 9-3.
“I feel like being down 7-0 at halftime sounds really bad but we should have had at least four out of seven from our power plays in the first half and we would have only been down by three,” Crawford said. “I don’t feel like we played poorly, we just could not put away our opportunities.”
The loss concluded what was a tough conference season for SDSU as it went 1-6 against MPSF opponents, each of which is ranked in the nation’s top 10 this year. Despite their conference tally, the season is a far cry from disappointing for the Aztecs, who still find themselves ranked No. 9 in the nation with a record of 19-12 overall. Crawford just continues to point out these positives to a team disappointed by its conference performance.
“We’re still ranked in the Top 10 nationally and we’re still a very good team so I feel like, being in the toughest conference in the nation, you just have to keep giving yourself pep talks about how your conference record can’t be what defines you,” Crawford said.
SDSU has one match left in the season to tune itself up before MPSF conference tournament games begin on April 29. Hoping to avenge some of those earlier defeats, the Aztecs will look to gain a little momentum they hope will translate into a deep tournament run.
“I really feel that this team never gives up, they continue to fight hard,” Crawford said. “Sometimes, unfortunately, momentum starts to go in a direction that’s not favorable and it’s sometimes hard to swing it around. I think we’ve just got to understand that next time we come out at the conference championships how important it is that when we have opportunities, that we put them away and get the momentum going in our favor instead of creating an uphill climb for ourselves.”
