USC
Long Beach St
Csaszar Leads Men's Water Polo To Win
November 14, 1999 | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 14, 1999
LOS ANGELES - Junior driver George Csaszar scored three goals to lead the No. 3 USC men's water polo team over No. 5 Long Beach State, 9-6, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at McDonald's Swim Stadium on Sunday. The Trojans improved their overall record to 19-4 and ended their MPSF schedule with a 6-2 record. The 49ers dropped to 12-11 overall, 3-5 in conference. USC rebounded well from a tough 7-5 loss at UCLA on Friday, and has not lost back-to-back matches yet this season.
The majority of the match was a back-and-forth affair as the two teams exchanged the first 10 goals. The match was tied at halftime, 3-3. The early star was 49er sophomore defender Chris Segesman, who scored all three of the 49ers' first-half goals, but was held off the scoreboard by the Trojans for the rest of the afternoon.
With 37 seconds left in the third quarter, Csaszar put the Trojans up for good when he scored to snap a 5-5 tie.
The most important goal of the afternoon came with 4:48 to play and gave USC the first two-goal lead either team had enjoyed all afternoon. After a 49er was sent off, giving the Trojans a man advantage for 20 seconds, USC Coach Jovan Vavic called a timeout to set up a play. After the timeout, USC lulled the 49er defense into a false sense of security by casually controlling the ball way outside to the right. Meanwhile, senior driver Allen Basso quietly slipped into point-blank range just off to the left side of the 49er cage. One quick pass to Basso, and one quick shot by Basso gave USC a 7-5 lead, and proved to be the game-winning goal.
The 49ers scored the next goal to pull to within one, but USC scored the match's final two goals, including Csaszar's third goal of the afternoon with one second left in the fourth quarter.
It was the Trojans' 18th consecutive victory over Long Beach State. USC closes out its regular season schedule with a non-conference match at McDonald's Swim Stadium next Saturday against UCLA at 10 a.m. -- 2 1/2 hours prior to the USC-UCLA football game.
LBSU (12-11, 3-5) 2-1-2-1 --- 6
USC (19-4, 6-2) 1-2-3-3 --- 9
LBSU Goals: Chris Segesman 3, Pat Cochran 1, Corey Dolley 1, Shane Lindstrom 1.
USC Goals: George Csaszar 3, Ivan Babic 2, Allen Basso 2, James Castle 1, Stever O'Rourke 1.
Goalie Saves: Robert Smith (LBSU) 11, Richard McEvoy (USC) 3.
