WATER POLO / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : UCLA Plays California for Championship

Last March it looked as if the UCLA water program was going under. Now the team has a chance to go on top.

The Bruins defeated second-seeded Pepperdine, 6-5, in a semifinal of the NCAA water polo championships at Belmont Plaza Saturday.

UCLA planned to halt its water polo program as part of budget cuts, but the program was revived by boosters’ money.

Oliver Will and Chris Kellerman scored twice and Philip Hadfield once for the Bruins (19-9), who play California in the championship match tonight at 8. UCLA is the only team to defeat Cal but, as Bruin Coach Guy Baker said: “I’m not sure if we got them on a bad day.”

“We knew we could counter on them, and we knew (Geoffrey) Clark was their main weapon,” Will said of Pepperdine. “If you drop (double-team) on him, they have to shoot from the outside, and we have the best goalie in the cage.”

Goalie Dan Hackett made 15 saves against Pepperdine.

Just as important as his saves were Hackett’s outlet passes to begin UCLA’s counterattack.

Clark led Pepperdine with three goals, but all were in the first half, and he appeared to tire from constant double-team defenses and having to sprint the length of the pool every time UCLA got the ball.

In the other semifinal:

California 13, UC Irvine 10--Chris Humbert and Dirk Zeien scored four goals for the top-seeded Bears (25-1).

Irvine (21-8) will play Pepperdine at 6 p.m. for third place.

In the fifth-place semifinals:

Cal State Long Beach 13, Navy 9--Chi Kredell scored three goals for fifth-seeded Long Beach (16-10). Navy (20-9) trailed, 6-5, at halftime. Long Beach outscored Navy, 4-1, in the third quarter to take control.

UC San Diego 12, Slippery Rock 10--Slippery Rock (25-7) took a 5-2 first-quarter lead, but that merely seemed to wake up San Diego (22-15), which scored 10 goals in the next two quarters.