Fullen does better than just following in footsteps

Starting out the season with three straight national titles creates incredibly high expectations for returning players to keep pace with their past successes. Junior goalkeeper Brittany Fullen did more than keep pace in 2008 – she sped past it.

Fullen amassed a UCLA single-season record 237 saves, while starting in all 33 games of the women’s water polo team’s undefeated schedule, which culminated in their fourth consecutive NCAA Championship. Until this year, Fullen had started only eight games in two years at UCLA because four-time All-American Emily Feher dominated the Bruin goal.

“When I recruited (Fullen) out of Corona Del Mar High School, I thought she had the potential to be a great goalie,” coach Adam Krikorian said. “But anytime you’re recruiting, you just don’t know if anyone can be as good as someone like Emily Feher.”

This year, Fullen was finally given her chance to break out, and she didn’t disappoint. However, competing on what is currently the most successful team at UCLA, Fullen’s achievements were sometimes buried among a wealth of other records, awards and accolades.

“It’s something that kind of went unnoticed since we had such a fabulous year,” Krikorian said. “But she broke our all-time single season saves record, which, for the list of goalies that we’ve had that came before her, is just an incredible accomplishment.”

By breaking the record, Fullen fits herself squarely into UCLA’s history of exceptional goalkeepers, including Jamie Hipp of the 2008 USA Olympic team and two-time Olympian Nicole Payne, who had previously held the single season save record since 1999. The goalie position is unique because it requires not only strong individual talent, but also the leadership necessary to guide the team. Although Fullen’s talent in guarding the goal was never doubted, it was her command of the entire defense that surprised some that know her outside the pool.

“She’s naturally a very shy and timid individual, and she’ll be the first one to admit it,” Krikorian said. “That was one concern of mine. You need to be able to vocalize and lead by the words that you say during the course of a game or a practice. That was a concern, but she did a phenomenal job. She really kind of came out of her shell and had a great year.”