University Southern California Trojans
No. 1 USC Makes The Plunge Into Conference Play
October 19, 2005 | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 19, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
THIS WEEK: The top-ranked Trojans open season on their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation campaign with a trip to UC Santa Barbara on Sunday (Oct. 23) at 1 p.m.
RANKINGS: USC (13-1) climbed back to No. 1 in the national rankings after sitting in second for two weeks. UC Santa Barbara moved from No. 15 to No. 14 this week.
WEEKEND RECAP: The Trojans made another big move in the 2005 season race by claiming the championship at the Northern California Tournament with a 9-8 win over host California on Sunday afternoon. To get to that title match, the Trojans downed Santa Clara 14-1 and UC Irvine 8-7 on Saturday before dispatching No. 3 Stanford in the semifinals with a 10-9 win over the Cardinal. Goalies Don Ricci and Adam Shilling helped the Trojans tack up their second and third consecutive one-goal victories in the tournament. In the championship game, Juraj Zatovic scored a game-high four goals as the Trojans built a 9-6 lead in the fourth quarter. The Bears closed in, but couldn't pass up USC before the final buzzer. The championship win gives the Trojans their second major tournament victory of the year, as USC also claimed the title of the Southern California Tournament earlier in the season. In the semifinal match, USC climbed out to a two-goal edge in the first quarter and at halftime, and was able to hold off the Cardinal for the win -- thanks in large part to a three-goal game from Juan Delgadillo and a pair of goals from Zatovic. Zatovic finished the tourney with 11 goals, and Delgadillo added nine to lead USC.
UCSB NOTES: No. 14 UC Santa Barbara is 9-10 overall and 0-1 in MPSF play. The Gauchos finished 13th at the NorCal Tournament and are led in scoring this season by Coulson Lantz and Robbie Bauer with 24 and 21 goals, respectively.
TROJAN-GAUCHO RIVALRY: The Trojans are 46-12-2 all-time against the Gauchos and have won the past 25 straight games.
BEST-EVER OR BUST: After 11 more goals last weekend, Juraj Zatovic jacked up his career scoring numbers to 188 to place him just two goals shy of tying for the top spot on the USC all-time charts. Currently, Robert Lynn (1985-1988) is the Trojans' all-time leading scorer with 190 career goals.
THAT'S THREE: Senior two-meter defender Juraj Zatovic tacked up his third Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Mikasa Player of the Week award of the 2005 season after his dominating efforts in the Trojans' championship run through th Northern California Tournament. After nailing four goals in the championship game against California, Zatovic tallied his 10th multiple-goal game of the season. This week's honor marks Zatovic's fifth career MPSF weekly award, and the fourth such award for the Trojans this season. Zatovic has now won it three times, and Juan Delgadillo has won once this year.
SPRINT SPECIALIST: Junior utility Pavol Valovic has yet to lose a starting sprint for the Trojans. The speedster has taken the majority of USC's opening sprints, and has come out ahead on every one. In the SoCal Tournament championship game against Stanford on Sept. 18, Valovic was a perfect 4-for-4 off the lane line. He did the same against Pepperdine, went 3-for-3 against LMU last week, and didn't miss a beat at the Northern California Tournament, either.
DOUBLING UP: The Trojans' overall offensive production and defensive control have become glaringly apparant. After the Northern California Touranment, USC ballooned its scoring output to more than double its goals allowed, outscoring all opponents 135-65 this season. On the attacking end of the pool, USC is averaging 9.6 goals per game, while allowing a mere 4.6 per game. The Trojan defense had not allowed more than five goals for eight straight games before coming up against UC Irvine in NorCal play on Oct. 15.
CAGE FIGHTERS: The red-capped tandem of sophomore Adam Shilling and junior Don Ricci has proven a potent one-two punch for the Trojans. Together, they have 88 saves -- an even 44 apiece. So far, each has had a solid hand in notching USC two important tournament victories. In the NorCal Tournament, Shilling anchored the Trojans to a semifinal win over Stanford with nine saves in the cage, and gave way to Ricci in the final. Ricci tacked up four saves, including a one-on-one stop against California, to help USC claim that tournament title. In the SoCal Tournament title game on Sept. 18, the pair shared in the championship effort. When Shilling was ejected in the second quarter, Ricci was able to sub in and make the stop on the Cardinal 6-on-5 attack. Shilling stepped back in at the half, and anchored the Trojans the rest of the way to the win.
SHUTTING IT DOWN: When junior goalie Don Ricci took to the cage on Sept. 24 against Occidental, he also took hold of a piece of Trojan history by helping anchor USC to its first shutout victory since a 12-0 win over Cal State Los Angeles in 1988. Ricci posted four saves in the win, a testament to the powerful Trojan defense in field. And against Santa Clara on Oct. 15, Ricci pitched another shutout through his three quarters in the cage.
HOME POOL ADVANTAGE: After battling through regular-season competition, USC will play host to the crucial MPSF tournament (Nov. 25-27), where conference teams will vie for the championship title and an automatic bid into the eight-team NCAA Tournament. All the action is set to go down at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
VAVIC ON DECK: Head coach Jovan Vavic, one of the top water polo coaches in the country, serves a dual role as the head coach of both the USC men's and women's teams and has led both to national championships twice in the same school year (the men in 1998 and 2003 and the women in 1999 and 2004). As he begins his 11th season at the helm of the men's program, Vavic has a 213-51 (.807) record on the men's side after leading the 2004 Trojan squad to a third-place finish in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and a 22-5 overall mark. He also boasts a winning record against all opponents on the men's side of the game. Vavic pulled a coaching double sweep when he was named 2003 National Coach of the Year and MPSF Coach of the Year for the men and 2004 National Coach of the Year and MPSF Coach of the Year for the women. The 2004 women's team became the first team in NCAA Championship history to go undefeated (29-0) during the regular season.
