Trojans Look To Get Back On Winning Track
October 07, 2003 | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 7, 2003
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LOS ANGELES - The No. 1 USC men's water polo team (10-2, 2-0) hosts No. 2 Stanford (8-2, 0-0) in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action on Saturday (Oct. 11) at 4:30 p.m. at McDonald's Swim Stadium. The match will be one of four home events for USC with the women's soccer team hosting Washington State at noon, the women's volleyball team hosting Arizona at 4:30 p.m. and the football team playing Stanford at 7 p.m.
LAST WEEK - The Trojans finished fourth at the 2003 Nor-Cal Tournament in Stanford. USC opened on Saturday with wins against UC Santa Cruz (18-2) and UC Irvine (9-7). On Sunday, the Trojans suffered back-to-back overtime losses to eventual winner California (8-6) and Pepperdine (9-7). In the championship semifinal against Cal, the Trojans had a 6-1 lead in the third period before the Golden Bears battled back.
Jovan Vavic - In his ninth 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 31-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 177-45 (.797) record with the Trojans.
Juraj Zatovic - Sophomore two-meter defender Juraj Zatovic (Bratislava, Slovakia) led the Trojans in scoring last year with 49 goals, earning All-America third team honors, and this season is making a push for National Player of the Year honors. He leads the team this season with 31 goals. Zatovic scored 11 goals in four matches at the So-Cal Tournament in Irvine, Calif., including the game-winners against UC Irvine and Long Beach State. He scored a team-high four goals on Sept. 21 in a 9-7 win against No. 4 Pepperdine in the championship semifinal and started the season by recording back-to-back hat tricks on Sept. 13 and 14 against UC San Diego and UC Irvine.
Gadi Hadar - Senior driver Gadi Hadar (Kibutz-Givat-Haim-Icud, Israel) returns for his third season with the Trojans and is second on the team in scoring with 21 goals. Hadar scored 11 goals in four matches as the Trojans won the So-Cal Tournament title. He scored a team-high four goals in the championship match against co-No.1 Stanford on Sept. 21 and registered the sudden-victory overtime game-winner for the 10-9 win against the Cardinal. He was second on the team last year in scoring with 38 goals.
Predrag Damjanov - Senior two-meter Predrag Damjanov (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) earned All-America second team honors last season after garnering All-America honorable mention honors in his first two seasons. Damjanov finished third on the team last season in scoring with 33 goals and has 103 in his Trojan career (10 goals this season).
Bozidar Damjanovic - Senior goalie Bozidar Damjanovic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) earned All-MPSF honorable mention honors after recording 200 saves in 28 matches last season. In the season opener on Sept. 13 against No. 6 UC San Diego, he made 10 saves and did not allow a goal in the second half. He currently has 87 saves in 12 matches. Damjanovic has been a four-year starter for the Trojans.
JUNIOR NATIONAL TEAM - USC has three players who played this summer with the United States Junior National Team. Junior utility James Shin (Long Beach) scored a career-high 14 goals last year for the Trojans while freshmen Thomas Hale (Long Beach/Wilson HS) and Trevor Clark (Huntington Beach/Servite HS) made their collegiate debuts on Sept. 13. Hale was the CIF Division I Player of the Year last year while Clark was the CIF Division II Player of the Year. Shin is third on the team with 19 goals on the season while Hale is fourth with 13 goals. Hale scored a team-high five goals on Sept. 28 in a 15-3 win at No. 13 Pacific.
