Women's Water Polo 101

Of UCLA's 101 national championships, Adam Krikorian has played a role in 14. It's a stunning career record that includes one title as a player, three as an assistant coach and 10 as a head coach. Most people could spend a lifetime building that sort of resume, but Krikorian — who coaches both men's and women's water polo — has been out of school for only about a decade. "No hints of retirement!" he said jokingly during an interview about the title collected last weekend by the women's team.

You've built an amazing legacy at UCLA with 14 national championships. How did this team differ from the others?

Ever team that you coach — even if it's just one year later — is different. I think this team was unique in that we were largely comprised of veteran players and very inexperienced players. We don't have one sophomore on the team. We have four juniors and four seniors that played a significant amount of minutes, and then 12 freshmen.

The one really unique thing about this group is that they're just really loose. I didn't understand it at first ...  It's not that they're not serious, but they're just loose before games and before practice. Even before the national championship game they were joking around and having fun! As a coach it makes you nervous at times ... but obviously [our leaders] were very experienced. The five seniors had won four national championships in a row.

Four consecutive championships by a group of seniors is a first in UCLA women's sports history. Did you see a lot of development in that group, or were they a powerhouse from the get-go?

Each one of them had a different experience. Three of them played in the 2005 national championships and one of them — Brittany Rowe — was really the MVP of the championship game as a freshman. The two others played but didn't get significant playing time. We had one girl — Courtney Mathewson — who is one of the top three candidates for player of the year this year, but didn't play a minute in that game.

We kind of have a wide range. They definitely came in as highly touted recruits out of high school. At the same time, a lot of people told Mathewson that she'd never play at UCLA. And now? She scored the winning goal in the 2006 and 2007 national championship! She's one of the top three finalists for the [2008] player of the year award.

Your team went 33-0, the second perfect record in the past few years. When you start the season, do you ever have a goal like that or do you take it game by game?

We take it game-by-game. That was a difference in 2005: when we got to the championships and were undefeated, there was a lot of pressure. The girls felt it. Even though we won, I don't feel that played up to the level that we could have because of the pressure. That was the year that we talked about going undefeated and the girls made it one of their goals.

This year, the first week or two we had a team meeting. I wanted them to come up with some goals. I knew we were in really good shape when after an hour and a half, all the goals that were written on the dry erase board had to do with winning. The had to do with something tactically speaking, or maybe academically speaking, but not once was there a mention of a national championship, conference championship, beating USC, or any of that. It's a credit to the focus, drive, and willingness to get better from this group — especially the seniors. I think it also helps that we'd gone undefeated before. The seniors had been undefeated in 2005, so they had seen it and done it. It wasn't like they were setting out to do something that had never been done.

Obviously the national championship is the big highlight of a season like this, but what else jumps out at you about this year? Was there any other moment that made you go "wow?"

Every day of practice! This team is such a joy to coach. Even this week I'm regretting that we don't have practice. I love going up to the pool at coaching this team. They're so coachable and so competitive!

We had a lot of highlights this year. We beat USC at their place. I think that's the first time anyone's done that since 2002. Right from the beginning of the year I knew we had something special.

You wound up beating USC four times. Do you feel that the more a team gets to know you, the more of a challenge they become?

Absolutely! There's no question about that! I would say they more you play someone, the underdog creeps a little closer and closer. That was a concern. The first time we played them we beat them pretty handily, 8-4 (ironically, in the same pool we beat them for the national championship at Stanford). The next two times we escaped with one goal wins where they had leads in the fourth quarter. That definitely made me sweat a little bit going into that final game. Luckily we had a great performance on Sunday.

Did you do anything big to celebrate?

It's always fun, but the girls are a humble group ... I'm sure they're enjoying this week on campus, walking around and being congratulated. For me, it's back to work. I coach the men's team too. We have practice this week. There's also recruiting. It's a nonstop battle.

You've got some juniors coming back, but lots of young players. What can Bruin fans look forward to for next season?

I think we'll be up there. I doubt that we'll be the favorite going into next year, which is fine. I think it may be nice to be an underdog going into next year. USC's going to return most of their players. Stanford returns almost all of their players. Other teams are going to be very, very strong. I would think we'll certainly be in the top five or six. I'd like to think at UCLA we'll always have a chance to win a championship.

Images by Liza David / Courtesy UCLA Athletics