USC
Long Beach State*
Trojans Wrap Up Third Place In MPSF
November 14, 2004 | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 14, 2004
(courtesy Long Beach State Sports Information)
LONG BEACH, CA-- In a battle for third place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), the No. 3-ranked USC Trojans jumped on Long Beach State early and came away with a 9-3 win over the No. 8-ranked 49ers at the LBSU Campus Pool. USC, which improved to 19-4 overall and 5-3 in the MPSF, had four players each score two goals. The 49ers (15-10, 4-4 MPSF) got two goals from Blake Bartak.
Coming off a tough 6-4 loss on Saturday to arch-rival UCLA, the Trojans came out of the blocks strong against the 49ers. USC scored five first quarter goals and then added three more in the second quarter to take an 8-0 halftime lead. Cameron Kaiser got things started with a goal at 6;05 in the first quarter, and the Trojans never looked back. Juraj Zatovic (5:19), Thomas Hale (3:16), Garrett Gentry (1:24) and James Shin (0:07) all tallied first quarter goals. Hale, Shin, Gentry and Zatovic all scored twice for the Trojans.
USC extended its lead to 9-0 with Zatovic's second goal at 5:01 in the third, giving USC a 9-0 lead. The 49er Brett McCleave put Long Beach on the scoreboard at 2:25 in the third and Bartk was able to find the back of the net twice (5:38, 3:24) in the fourth quarter.
USC goalie Don Ricci played three quarters, recording eight goalie saves and allowing just one goal. Ricci picked up two saves in the first quarter and four more in the second to turn back any rally the 49ers might have mustered. Adam Shilling played the fourth quarter, recording one save. 49er goalie Thomas Onyshko finished with nine saves.
The Trojans will travel to CBU next Saturday (Nov. 20) for a nonconference match before preparing for the MPSF Championship (Nov. 26-28) at Stanford.
USC 5 3 1 0 -- 9 LONG BEACH STATE 0 0 1 2 -- 3
Scoring: USC: Thomas Hale 2, James Shin 2, Juraj Zatovic 2, Garrett Gentry 2, Cameron Kaiser 1 LBSU: Blake Bartak 2, Brett McCleave 1
Goalie Saves: Thomas Onyshko (LBSU) 9; Don Ricci (USC) 8; Adam Shilling (USC) 1
