UCLA’s women’s water polo team solidified its dynasty claim at the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo Championship, defeating cross-town rival Southern California, 5-4, for the school’s fifth consecutive title and seventh overall.

The third-seeded Bruins never trailed in the contest and won despite being held scoreless by the top-seeded Trojans in the second half.

“It may be one of the most improbable wins we’ve had,” said UCLA head coach Adam Krikorian. “I knew going into the game that defense was going to be the key. I knew that we were going to have a hard time scoring 12 goals like we did last night (against Stanford in the semifinals), and so I knew we had to play good defense … To be able to go an entire half without scoring and still be able to win is incredible.”

The championship match was the last as coach of the women’s team for Krikorian, who gave up the responsibility to coach the U.S. men’s national team. He will remain as coach of UCLA’s men’s team.

The Bruins got their first two goals less than a minute into the match when senior Tanya Gandy converted on a five-meter penalty shot 17 seconds in. She netted her second goal just 19 seconds later.

The Trojana’ Michelle Stein answered on a power play about two minutes later. Stein tied the match at two in the last three minutes of the first quarter.

UCLA senior Anne Belden took advantage of another power play with 1:14 left in the first quarter, giving the Bruins a 3-2 lead at the break. Bruins sophomore Priscilla Orozco gave UCLA a 4-2 lead in the second quarter, but Alexandra Kiss brought Southern California back within one with 3:25 left in the first half.

Gandy scored UCLA’s final goal of the game on a penalty shot at the 2:06 mark in the second quarter, making the score 5-3 at the half.

The second half went as Krikorian had predicted – a largely defensive battle. The Trojans scored in the final seconds of the third quarter, closing the margin to 5-4 on a 6-on-5 chance. Neither team could find the net in the final quarter.

Gandy earned most-outstanding-player honors.

For the top-ranked Trojans, the loss was hard to swallow. But senior Michelle Stein reflected on the season – in which they played UCLA three times, including the title match – positively.

“Our team grew, and we had great chemistry, and we won a lot of big games,” she said. “But when it comes down to it at the end, it’s tough to beat a team more than once, especially when it’s a close game every time you beat them. We beat them twice, and the third game was particularly tough.”

Semifinals

Southern California  4          2          6          5 – 17

Hawaii            0          1          2          2 – 5

Southern California scoring: Kami Craig 3, Alexandra Kiss 3, Michelle Stein 3, Forel Davies 2, Kristen Dronberger 2, Nadia Dan 2, Kally Lucas, Sarah Van Norman.

Hawaii scoring: Dagmar Genee 2, Carmen Eggens, Sivian Pardon, Samantha Motekaitis.

Saves: Ilse van der Meijden (Southern California) 9, Serena Bredin (Hawaii) 4.

UCLA                        3          2          3          4 – 12

Stanford         1          2          4          4 – 11

UCLA scoring: Tanya Gandy 4, Anne Belden 3, Megan Burmeister 2, Kelly Rulon, Kelly Easterday, Katie Estrada

Stanford scoring: Lauren Silver 3, Kelly Eaton 3, Kira Hillman, Kim Krueger, Pallavi Menon, Jessica Steffens.

Saves: Brittany Fullen (UCLA) 6, Amber Oland (Stanford) 3.

Third-place game

Stanford         4          3          5          2 – 14

Hawaii            3          2          3          3 –11

Stanford scoring: Lauren Silver 8, Kelly Eaton, Kira Hillman, Kelsey Holshouser, Alex Koran, Kim Krueger, Jessica Steffens.

Hawaii scoring: Saara Majuri 3, Lisa van Raalte 3, Carmen Eggens 2, Dagmar Genee, Kelly Mason, Leonie Van Der Molen.

Saves: Amber Oland (Stanford) 5, Serena Bredin (Hawaii) 8.

Championship game

Southern California  2          1          1          0 – 4

UCLA                        3          2          0          0 – 5

UCLA goals: Tanya Gandy 3, Anne Belden, Priscilla Orozco

Southern California goals: Michelle Stein 2, Forel Davis, Alexandra Kiss

Saves: Brittany Fullen (UCLA) 12, Tumua Anae (Southern California) 11.