Undefeated USC Defends SoCal Crown At Home
October 11, 2006 | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 11, 2006
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THIS WEEK: The top-ranked Trojans are in high gear as they enter the competitive Southern California Tournament this weekend. Not only does USC boast home-pool advantage for the tourney, the Trojans are the defending champs AND have rolled through 30 straight victories on the way into this weekend's action, which brings to town 12 of the nation's top-20 teams, including all nine MPSF squads. The top seeds in the tourney are USC (Group A), California (Group B), UCLA (Group C) and UC San Diego (Group D). USC opens its end of the competition with a 12 p.m. game against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday (Oct. 14) at McDonald's Swim Stadium, and then faces UC Irvine at 4 p.m. that day. Semifinals are set for 10 and 11:20 a.m. on Sunday (Oct. 15). The championship game will be held at 4:40 p.m. that afternoon.
RANKINGS: The Trojans (11-0, 3-0 MPSF) are holding strong in their fourth straight week as the nation's top-ranked team after spending three weeks at No. 2. USC spent the last seven weeks of 2005 as the top-ranked team but was displaced in 2006 by California before beating the Bears to win the Northern California Tournament. USC's fellow Group A teams are No. 11 UC Irvine and No. 8 UC Santa Barbara. Also competing in the weekend's action are No. 2 California, No. 4 UCLA, No. 3 UC San Diego, No. 7 Pacific, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 LMU, No. 13 Pepperdine, No. 14 Long Beach State and No. 16 Air Force.
SOCAL TOURNEY NOTES: The Southern California Tournament is the second highly regarded men's water polo tournament of the season, used as a crucial measuring stick for the eventual NCAA Championship field and seedings. The tournament has bounced around between various Southern California universities, and settles this year in the home waters of USC, while also utilizing off-campus sites at the Commerce Aquatorium and the Coliseum Pool. All nine MPSF squads will be joined by three other top teams from around the country for the 2006 edition of the esteemed SoCal Tournament. The Trojans enter this year's tourney as the defending champions, having worked through wins over Redlands, Long Beach State and California to reach the 2005 final against Stanford. USC's 8-7 semifinal win over Cal was followed by a 6-5 win over the Cardinal in the championship. Meanwhile, Cal beat then-No. 1 UCLA 8-7 in overtime to claim third place in last year's action. Seedings and schedule for the 2006 SoCal Tournament are located on the last page of this release, and online on the USC men's water polo web page.
WEEKEND RECAP: The Trojans powered through two more MPSF opponents over the weekend, dropping No. 9 UC Santa Barbara 15-8 and No. 5 Pacific 23-12 to improve to 11-0 overall and 3-0 in MPSF play. USC's hefty winning streak ballooned to 30 straight victories as the Trojans' overwhelming offensive balance swamped the Gauchos and the Tigers. Freshman J.W. Krumpholz tallied a career-high five goals against UCSB to take over as USC's leading scorer and tally the highest single-game scoring effort of the season for the Trojans. The following day, a season-high 13 different scorers got in on USC's highest single-game scoring effort since 1998. Behind four goals from Juan Delgadillo and three from Thomas Hale and Jordan Thompson, USC rang up a 23-12 win over Pacific. Freshman Nico Sardo recorded his first career goals with a pair against the Tigers as USC won its 14th straight game at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
THE FRESHMAN 17: At the NorCal Tournament, four USC freshmen combined for 17 goals to help the Trojans to their second straight NorCal crown. J.W. Krumpholz led the charge with seven goals, joined by four apiece from Matt Sagehorn and Justin Rappel and two from Anthony Artukovich.
ADD `EM UP: Junior goalie Adam Shilling has proved himself a wall in the cage again this season. He tallied a season-high 10 saves in the NorCal championship game against Cal to help the Trojans to a 10-7 win. He finished the tourney with 22 saves in three games, and has since ballooned his season total to 50 saves with a goals-against average of 4.89 and saves average of 5.56.
THE REAL SOCAL: USC will play host to the competitive Southern California Tournament this season. The tournament has bounced around between various Southern California universities, and settles this year in the home waters of USC. All nine MPSF squads will be joined by three other top teams from around the country for the 2006 edition of the esteemed SoCal Tournament. The action is set for Oct. 14-15 in Los Angeles. Seedings and schedule are located on the last page of this release, and online on the USC men's water polo web page.
ON LOCKDOWN: USC has averaged just over one goal against each period this season, pinning up solid scores to outweigh opponents 150-62 so far in 2006. USC was No. 1 in the nation in team defense last year, averaging 5.0 goals against per game, and the Trojans again are No. 1 in the nation so far this year with 5.64 goals allowed per game. Aside from the goal-fest that was USC's 23-12 win over Pacific, no team has scored in double figures against the Trojans this year.
FULL ARSENAL: The Trojans have an offensive balance this season that has the glaring ability to swamp opponents. USC has maxed out with 13 different scorers in its 23-12 win over Pacific on Oct. 7. Even in USC's lowest scoring outing -- a 7-6 win over UCLA -- the Trojans had five players get on the board. The widespread scoring started early and is likely to remain heated as a grand total of 16 Trojans have found their ways to the back of the net this year. That UCLA match is the only time this year that USC has scored in single digits.
THIRD TIME'S A CHARM?: Two Trojan seniors have now claimed two national championships at USC, and are ademately seeking a third. Seniors Thomas Hale and Juan Delgadillo both had a strong hand in the 2003 and 2005 titles. Head coach Jovan Vavic has led the Trojans to the national title three times now (1998, 2003, 2005). Assistant coaches Marko Pintaric and Peter Janov also were both members of that 1998 national champion team.
GETTING STREAKY: USC ended the 2005 season on a 19-game winning streak to set a new record for the longest win streak in program history. The Trojans' MPSF championship victory extended their streak to 17 straight games, tying a win streak that spanned the 2003 and 2004 seasons. The streak is now 30 wins long.
DELGADILLO GETS IT DONE: For the second time in his Trojan career, senior driver Juan Delgadillo has earned the honor of MPSF Player of the Week. Delgadillo scored in each game of the Northern California Tournament, finishing the weekend with a team-high 10 goals. His three-goal performance in the championship game against Cal helped USC secure back-to-back NorCal Tournament titles with a 10-7 win over the Bears.
2006 PREVIEW: USC head coach Jovan Vavic, the 2005 National and MPSF Coach of the Year, has hauled in an eye-popping crop of fresh talent for the coming year in an effort to bolster the Trojan roster as USC goes in pursuit of back-to-back NCAA and MPSF titles. Eleven new players -- nine newcomers and four former redshirts -- cap up for USC this year, ready to see their first action in the pool as Trojans. Five incoming athletes traveled overseas during the summer as members of the U.S. Junior National Team, including Senior National Team player J.W. Krumpholz. The Trojans are led this year by three highly respected standout seniors, Juan Delgadillo, Thomas Hale and Pavol Valovic. Balance and depth will be prominent for the 2006 USC squad, and the cage will be manned once again by junior NCAA Co-MVP Adam Shilling.
2005 RECAP: USC finished the 2005 season with a program-best 26-1 record and a record 19-game winning streak after beating Stanford 3-2 in the lowest-scoring NCAA championship game in history. The win marked the USC men's program's third NCAA title. En route to the national crown, USC won the two regular-season tournament titles (NorCal and SoCal tournaments) as well as the MPSF Tournament after an undefeated run through the regular conference season. USC's lone loss of 2005 was a 5-4 loss to Pepperdine during nonconference play.
HOME POOL DOMINATION: USC posted a flawless 2005 record in the waters of McDonald's Swim Stadium. Capping off the season as the tournament host to the MPSF Tournament, USC had some home-pool advantage to go along with that hefty winning streak. The Trojans finished off 2005 with a 9-0 record at home, and they are 3-0 at home so far this year to hold a 12-game win streak in home waters.
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). Now in his 12th season at the helm of the men's program, Vavic has improved his career coaching record on the men's side to 239-52 (.821) after leading the Trojans to their third-ever NCAA Championship and a program-best 26-1 record in 2005. In his tenure as men's head coach, Vavic boasts a winning record against all opponents on the men's side of the game, recording only two losses in 11 seasons against teams outside the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. He is 176-50 against MPSF teams since 1995. For his success in guiding USC to the NCAA crown in 2005, Vavic was named the AWPCA Men's Coach of the Year. His Trojans also claimed the 2005 MPSF Championship, and Vavic earned himself MPSF Coach of the Year honors as well. At 26-1, USC posted its most wins in history and broke another record by closing out the year on an 19-game winning streak.
