UC IRVINE WATER POLO TOURNAMENT : Defense Helps UCLA Race Past USC, 7-6

In the end it was UCLA’s counter that proved better than USC’s jab.

UCLA used a strong defense and a quick counter-attack to defeat USC, 7-6, in the championship game of the UC Irvine water polo tournament Sunday at Corona del Mar High School.

Stefan Pollmann, a West German national, scored three counter-attack goals--water polo’s version of a fast break--to lead the second-ranked Bruins. Fellow West German Oliver Will added a pair of goals for UCLA (6-0).

Before the match, USC Coach John Williams said if the Trojans could finish within four goals of the Bruins it would be a moral victory. Danny Leyson, USC’s top player, was out with a knee injury, and another starter, Javier Santiago, didn’t play because of a shoulder injury.

Despite the score, UCLA was in control from the start, taking a 2-0 lead in the first quarter and forcing USC to play catch-up the rest of the way.

“The nice thing is that we really haven’t played up to our potential and we’ve continued to win,” UCLA Coach Bob Horn said. “We have a reasonable amount of depth and a number of ways to attack, so that keeps opponents off balance and makes us a little harder to scout.”

UCLA’s defense helped its counter-attack, with junior goalie Dan Hackett--who is from Irvine--playing aggressively. Hackett, who had seven saves, came out of goal to steal two balls. He also came out of goal for a few seconds to help double-team USC’s two-meter position each time the Trojans were on offense.

“That’s by design,” Horn said. “We teach that. It’s another unique thing that we play.”

The double-teaming forces an offense to take more time to set up and, therefore, runs down the shot clock. USC had the shot clock expire three times and the Trojans were forced to take hurried shots on several occasions.

Four of UCLA’s goals were off counter-attacks, and the score could have been lopsided if not for the excellent play of USC goalie Sean McCloskey. McCloskey, from Sunny Hills High School, had 10 saves, including a block of a penalty shot in the first quarter.

USC tied the score at 2-2 with 1:05 left in the half on goals by George Belcher and Matt Tonkavich. But UCLA’s Javier Escobar scored with 35 seconds remaining and the Bruins were never tied again.

Stanford finished third in the tournament by defeating UC Santa Barbara, 7-5, and UC Irvine finished sixth after losing to Pepperdine, 10-9.

Henry Rabello, a transfer from Golden West College, led Pepperdine with four goals. Pablo Yrizar and Steve Gill each scored twice for Irvine.

Yrizar had 16 goals for the tournament and Gill had 11.