NCAA WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS : Bruins Win, Face No. 1 Stanford

UCLA Coach Guy Baker savored this victory for, oh, about 15 minutes.

Shortly after his UCLA water polo team defeated Pepperdine, 8-7, in an overtime game at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, Baker was reminded whom he plays today--No. 1 Stanford.

“Great. That’s our prize,” Baker said. Then he added with a laugh: “Maybe they’ll be overconfident.”

Stanford--which is 25-1 and dominated Air Force, 20-4, in its first-round game--has beaten UCLA four times this season.

Fifth-seeded UCLA knew it was not getting any easy games. But the first one was hard enough.

Pepperdine, 15-9 and seeded fourth, had a 6-5 lead late in the fourth quarter. But UCLA tied the score with nine seconds left when Adam Krikorian found Corbin Graham open near the goal for a tip-in score.

In the first overtime--in water polo there are two three-minute overtimes and then a sudden-death period if needed--UCLA took a 7-6 lead. However, Pepperdine tied the score early in the second overtime when Pepperdine’s Alan Herrman beat two defenders at the two-meter position and scored.

UCLA’s Luther Weidner tried to do the same two possessions later. His back-hand shot drifted weakly toward the goal, but it was enough to break the plane and count, and UCLA led with 36 seconds left. Pepperdine turned the ball over in the ensuing possession and UCLA (17-12) advanced.

In other games, second-seeded USC beat seventh-seeded Navy, 15-5, and third-seeded California defeated sixth-seeded Massachusetts, 12-7.

USC (18-6) jumped out to a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter and was not seriously threatened. Uzi Hadar and Hrovje Cizmic each scored goals for the Trojans.

For California, Mike Sparling and Brent Albright each had three goals.

In today’s semifinals, Stanford will play UCLA at 6:30 p.m. and USC will play California at 8 p.m.

In the consolation semifinals, Air Force (18-10) will play Pepperdine at 2:30 p.m. and Massachusetts will play Navy (25-6) at 4 p.m.