UCLA TAKES POLO TITLE TUNEUP BRUINS FIGURE TO SEE STANFORD AGAIN SOON AT NCAAS UCLA 11, STANFORD 7.

Byline: Lee Barnathan Staff Writer

Having not seen each other in almost two months, the Stanford and UCLA women's water polo teams renewed acquaintances, played a little water polo and said, ``See you in two weeks, when it really matters.''

The only point settled Sunday at USC was third-seeded UCLA won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship, beating the top-seeded Cardinal 11-7 to claim the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Championships May 11-12 at USC.

The Bruins (21-3) join Loyola Marymount and Michigan in the Final Four. The at-large berth will be determined this morning, and an MPSF team always has received it. Stanford (21-2) most likely will get the nod over USC.

The second-seeded Trojans, who won the third-place match Sunday, 11-8 over No. 5 Long Beach State, gave Stanford its only other loss of the season. But the Cardinal was ranked higher, has three fewer losses and went 3-1 against UCLA. USC went 0-3 against the Bruins.

``You don't know what the (NCAA) committee will do,'' USC coach Jovan Vavic said. ``I don't think we'll go, but you never know.''

UCLA and Stanford certainly knew each other, having played for the national championship last season and three times this season. Last year, the Bruins didn't beat the Cardinal until the title match, the fourth time they met in 2001.

This year, Stanford had outscored the Bruins by eight goals, and UCLA hadn't scored more than six in any match against the Cardinal.

Bruins coach Adad Krikorian was hard-pressed to explain how his team could score so many. He thought his team's depth (seven players scored, led by Jessica Lopez's three) played a role, as did the sun being in Stanford goalie Jackie Frank's eyes.

``We were shooting a little bit better, and we got some lucky breaks,'' Krikorian said. ``But we had some goals that usually don't go against Jackie Frank.''

Stanford senior driver Margie Dingeldein, who scored her team's first two goals, naturally had a different take.

``Our intensity dropped,'' she said. ``I think we were thinking, even if we weren't supposed to, we were all thinking we'll be back here in two weeks.''

But who will play whom? That also will be determined today. Traditionally, the MPSF champion earns the top seed and plays the Collegiate Water Polo Association champion (Michigan). The MPSF runner-up gets the Western Water Polo Association champion (LMU).

Krikorian thinks Stanford might earn the top seed by virtue of its record against UCLA. But regardless, the Bruins will spend the next two weeks preparing for the Cardinal.

In the third-place match:

--USC 11, Long Beach State 8: Senior Sofia Konoukh scored four goals, and the Trojans (25-4) scored seven on the power play.

But only one of Konoukh's goals came with a player advantage. Senior Nina Wengst scored all three of her goals one player up.

Long Beach (19-12) scored six of its goals on the power play, led by sophomore Angelica Garcia with four.

In the 11th-place match:

--Pacific 8, CS Northridge 2: The Matadors (5-23) completed their first season winless in the MPSF. Senior Melissa Hall scored both goals in the first period, once on the power play and once on a penalty shot. She finished the season with 27 goals. Junior goalie Jessica Moody had four saves, giving her 192 for the season.