“Five, four, three, two, one,” the crowd chanted as the clock expired on the first quarter; UCLA fifth-year utility Ben Larsen wound up to shoot on the net and…
On Saturday, the No. 1 UCLA Bruins (13-0, 0-0 MPSF) defeated the No. 4 Fordham Rams (9-1, 3-0 MAWPC) 16-11 at the Spieker Aquatics Center in Westwood. The back-to-back national champions looked to remain undefeated at home against a top-five opponent, coming off their fourth straight Overnight MPSF Invitational title.
The Bruins got off to a hot start in the first quarter, scoring four unanswered goals from fifth-year utility Ben Larsen, junior attacker Bode Brinkema and freshman utility Luka Gladović, taking a hot 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Thirty seconds into the second quarter, senior center Marcell Szécsi earned an exclusion on Fordham utility Mark Dyck. The Bruins would capitalize on their second power play when junior attacker Ryder Dodd scored off the assist from Gladović. The Rams would quickly respond when center Diego Tresa found the back of the net and put Fordham on the board, 5-1, with the opposing fans erupting.
Twelve seconds later, the Bruins would go on a power play after senior utility Ben Liechty earned an exclusion on Fordham center Reid Thorson. The Bruins took advantage of the opportunity when Szécsi found the back of the net. UCLA would score again with 6:02 remaining in the second quarter, with Liechty scoring his first of the game and giving the Bruins a six-goal lead, 7-1. 30 seconds later, UCLA scored another power-play goal from senior defender Max Matthews, 8-1.
Fordham would go on an offensive run of their own, started by freshman center Karlo Dragosevic, scoring his first of the game at 5:15 in the second quarter, cutting UCLA’s lead to six, 8-2. At 3:30 in the second, the Rams would net a goal again from junior attacker Andras Toth, his first of the game and Fordham’s third, 8-3. With 44 seconds remaining in the quarter, Fordham attacker Laszlo Strasser scored the fourth of four unanswered goals for the Rams, cutting the lead down to four.
The scoring would continue in the third quarter, with the Bruins and Rams exchanging goals; Toth and Dodd both scored their second goals of the game, with the Bruins’ lead remaining at four, 5- 9, at 7:33 for UCLA and 7:09 for Fordham. Two minutes later, Liechty scored once more and extended the Bruins’ lead to five, 10-5. With 3:52 in the third, Toth completed his hat trick, scoring his third goal on a power play for the Rams, 10-6.
Fordham’s misfortunes would continue early in the fourth quarter at 7:42 when Gladović scored the first penalty shot of the game for the Bruins. Gladović would complete a hat trick of his own with a power-play goal at 6:49 in the fourth; the Bruins’ lead was extended to six, 12-6.
At 5:18 in the quarter, Toth and Brinkema traded goals, pushing the Bruin lead to five, 13-8. Dodd then extended the Bruin lead back to six, 14-8. Twenty seconds later, Fordham attacker Oktavian Veklyuk scored his first of the game and cut the lead to five, 14-9.
At 1:55, Dodd scored his fourth goal of the game; UCLA led 15-9. After a UCLA timeout, Fordham would score two more goals on two Bruin turnovers into empty nets, by Toth and freshman attacker Vuk Kojic, 15-11. The Bruins would then score the final goal of the game with five seconds left by Liechty, the second for the Bruins.
On the pivotal win, UCLA goaltender Nate Tauscher spoke on others’ perceptions of the team: “We believe that we have always had a target on our team this year, and it excites us. We like to be the hunters out there.”
Dodd spoke to the importance of starting games strong: “I think it is really important. Like we found out the rest of the game, if we had come out sluggish, we would be battling the entire game.”
With the Bruins improving to 13-0 and remaining undefeated at home, they face No. 13 Pepperdine on Saturday, Sep. 26, at 1 p.m. PT.
