Men's Water Polo Competes At MPSF Championship This Weekend
November 25, 2002 | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 25, 2002
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LOS ANGELES - The No. 3 USC men's water polo team (18-7) will battle No. 4 UCLA (13-7) in the first round of the 2002 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship on Friday (Nov. 29) at 1 p.m. at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, Calif. The tournament will take place for three days (Nov. 29-Dec. 1) with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship (Dec. 7-8) at Loyola Marymount. Pepperdine is the No. 1 seed for the tournament based on a 7-1 conference record followed by No. 2 seed Stanford, No. 3 seed California, No. 4 seed USC, No. 5 seed UCLA, No. 6 seed UC Irvine and No. 7 seed Pacific. Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara will compete in a "play-in" match for the No. 8 seed.
LAST WEEK - The Trojans lost to UCLA, 12-10, in a non-conference match at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center. Gadi Hadar scored four goals in a losing effort for the Trojans.
JOVAN VAVIC - In his eighth season as the head coach of the men's water polo program, Jovan Vavic has built the Trojans into a national power, which culminated with the 1998 national championship. Vavic came to USC as an assistant men's water polo coach to John Williams in 1992 and was named co-head coach in 1995. He took over the reins as head coach in 1999 when Williams retired. Vavic is also the head coach for the USC women's water polo team. During the 1998-99 season, Vavic did something no other coach has accomplished as his teams won three national championships: besides capturing the 1998 men's and 1999 women's titles, his 1999 men's club team won the Men's Senior National Club Championship. Vavic has a 30-year water polo career. In addition to his coaching experience, he was a member of a Yugoslavian club team that was a four-time junior national champion (1973-74-76-77). Jovan also played for the Monte-Negro State team, which won the Yugoslav Nationals in 1977 and 1978.
VAVIC'S CAREER RECORD - Jovan Vavic has a 164-42 (.796) record in eight years with the Trojans.
BOZIDAR DAMJANOVIC - Junior Bozidar Damjanovic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) is the Trojans' No. 1 goalie. After recording 83 saves in 16 matches as a freshman in 2000, Damjanovic recorded 138 saves in 20 games as a 2001 sophomore. This season, he has 175 saves in 25 matches, including a season-high 15 on Oct. 27 at No. 2 UC Irvine.
JARAJ ZATOVIC - Freshman two-meter defender Jaraj Zatovic (Bratislava, Slovakia) leads the team with 44 goals this season. Zatovic led the Trojans to a 10-8 overtime win against No. 3 UCLA with four goals on Sept. 28 at McDonald's Swim Stadium. He scored the game-tying goals in the fourth and first overtime periods of the match. On Nov. 2 against Pacific, he led the Trojans with three goals, including the go-ahead goal late in the fourth quarter.
GADI HADAR - Junior driver Gadi Hadar (Kibutz-Givat-Haim-Icud, Israel) is second on the team in scoring with 33 goals this season. He led the Trojans with a team-high four on Sept. 7 in a 17-4 win against Air Force and scored the game-winner on Sept. 22 in an upset 8-7 win against No. 2 UC Irvine.
PREDRAG DAMJANOV - Junior two-meter Predrag Damjanov (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) returns for the Trojans after garnering All-America honorable mention honors last season. Damjanov was second on the team with 29 goals in 2001. This season, he is third in scoring with 27 goals.
STEPHEN LIPINSKI - Sophomore utility transfer Stephen Lipinski (Palo Alto/Loyola Marymount) is fourth on the team with 25 goals. Lipinski scored five goals on Sept. 21-22, including a team-high two on Sept. 22 in an 8-7 upset win against No. 2 UC Irvine.
