Undefeated USC Has Saturday Showdown With UCLA
October 18, 2006 | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 18, 2006
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THIS WEEK: The waters of McDonald's Swim Stadium have barely settled from USC's championship run through the SoCal Tournament, but the Trojans are geared up to get right back to business as the undefeated USC squad sets up to host UCLA and St. Francis this weekend. The top-ranked Trojans have torn through the 2006 season so far, peeling out to a 15-0 record as they make their way into this week's eagerly anticipated MPSF showdown with UCLA. USC plays host to the Bruins this weekend for a 12 p.m. face-off on Saturday (Oct. 21) at McDonald's Swim Stadium. The Trojans finish off the weekend's action against St. Francis at 12 p.m. on Sunday.
RANKINGS: The Trojans (15-0, 3-0 MPSF) have put a vice grip on the nation as they hold tight in their fifth 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. The Trojans have since beaten the Bears twice in tournament championship games to lay claim to the No. 1 position. UCLA (9-3, 1-0) ranks No. 3 in the nation, and St. Francis (16-2) is No. 8.
WEEKEND RECAP: Not only did the Trojans gut out two one-goal wins and bump their winning streak up to 34 straight victories last weekend -- USC successfully defended its title as the Southern California Tournament champions to notch its sixth consecutive tournament win. In front of a packed crowd at USC's own McDonald's Swim Stadium, the Trojans topped No. 3 UC San Diego 10-9 in the semifinals on Sunday morning, and then came back to edge No. 2 California 6-5 in the championship match. USC had rolled through the first day of action with a 11-5 win over UC Santa Barbara and a 14-3 win over UC Irvine. Those four wins kept USC's home win streak intact as well, pushing the Trojans to 16-0 at McDonald's Swim Stadium, while pushing USC's overall 2006 record to 15-0. The Trojans' overpowering offense was put to the test on Sunday when crossbars and stubborn defenders put a stop to numerous USC strikes. That's when the reliable Trojan defense kicked into high gear. USC swamped almost every pass into two meters, picked up steals, threw up field blocks, and had Adam Shilling stand tall as a wall in the cage. All the while, USC continued to spread out its scoring muscle. Against UC San Diego, five different Trojans each punched in a pair of goals, while Shilling racked up eight saves. In the championship match with Cal, USC's six goals came from the hands of six separate players, while Shilling slammed away a career-high 12 saves. Thirteen different Trojans scored in the weekend's action. Jovan Vranes finished as USC's top scorer in the tourney with six goals, while Juan Delgadillo, Thomas Hale and Gabor Sarusi each added five, and J.W. Krumpholz tallied four, including the game-winning goal against Cal in the final.
LEXUS GAUNTLET UP FOR GRABS: This week's USC-UCLA clash will mark the fourth crosstown showdown between Trojan and Bruin teams in the year-long competition culminating in the 2006-07 Lexus Gauntlet. The Gauntlet challenge incorporates all 18 sports in which USC and UCLA teams face off. Men's water polo started off this year's competition with a 7-6 win over the Bruins in the semifinals of the Northern California Tournament, but UCLA took a 5-2.5 advantage with a women's soccer win last week. USC leads the Bruins in the all-time Gauntlet competition after winning the trophy for the third time in 2005-06.
STREAK SMARTS: OK... everyone is wondering where the Trojans' current 34-game winning streak stands. By hitting win No. 34, the team pulled even with the USC football program's storied win streak, which was snapped in the 2005 national championship game just a month after the USC water polo team claimed the 2005 NCAA title. Water polo's 34-game run has well overtaken the program's previous best winning streak of 17 games, but it is still 17 wins short of the all-time longest men's water polo winning streak in the country -- held at 51 by Stanford (1985-1987). Check in this time next year to see if the Trojans are in line to take over the Cardinal's 51-0 claim to fame. USC's game winning streak was built in part by a prestigious tournament win streak. The recent SoCal Tournament title marked the sixth consecutive tournament win for the Trojans (2005 SoCal, 2005 NorCal, 2005 MPSF, 2005 NCAA, 2006 NorCal and 2006 SoCal).
SHUTDOWN STREET: It's become a trend of sorts. USC opponents who may catch a glimpse of hanging with the Trojans have on almost every occasion been dealt a big ZERO in at least one period of play. The USC defense has silenced 11 different opponents in at least one frame. Only four teams -- UCLA, Cal, Pacific and UC San Diego -- have avoided a shutout frame from the Trojans, and even then USC was able to match or better the single goal those opponents put up in their lowest-scoring quarter to ensure its winning edge.
THE REPLACEMENTS: Replacing a player like all-time scoring leader Juraj Zatovic is impossible. What the Cutino Award winner brought to the pool is unmatched, which is why it's taken more than one guy to help fill the scoring hole Zatovic left. Enter this year's incoming class of Trojans. Six freshmen and two JC transfers have gotten to the back of the net this season, racking up 90 goals between them to account for 47 percent of USC's scoring. Freshman J.W. Krumpholz leads them all with a team-high 27 goals.
UCLA NOTES: No. 3 UCLA (9-3, 1-0) finished third at the SoCal Tournament last week, beating Stanford 9-6 and Long Beach State 6-4 before falling 8-6 to Cal in the semis. The Bruins won the third-place game 12-3 over UC San Diego. Krsto Sbutega leads UCLA in scoring with 17 goals.
TROJANS-BRUINS RIVALRY: USC is 45-40-1 all-time against UCLA, having won the past two meetings including a 7-6 victory in the semifinals of the NorCal Tournament earlier this year. The Bruins last beat the Trojans in a 6-4 MPSF win on Nov. 13, 2004.
ST. FRANCIS NOTES: No. 8 St Francis (16-2) has not lost since falling twice to Navy to open the year. This is the Terriers' first trip west this season, where they face Cal Baptist and UC Santa Barbara before playing at USC. Fillip Kisdobranski and Nemanja Pucavarec are the Terriers' top scorers.
TROJANS-TERRIERS RIVALRY: USC is 2-0 all-time against St. Francis, last facing the Terriers in the 2005 NCAA semifinals when the Trojans won 14-8.
ADD `EM UP: Junior goalie Adam Shilling has proven himself a wall in the cage again this season. He tallied 10 saves in the NorCal final game against Cal to help the Trojans to a 10-7 championship win, and then put up a career-high 12 saves against the Bears once more to help get USC the SoCal Tournament title with a 10-9 victory. He finished the NorCal tourney with 22 saves in three games, and added another 36 at the SoCal Tournament to balloon his season total to 86 saves with a goals-against average of 5.0 and saves average of 6.6. For his immense effort in the cage at the SoCal Tournament, Shilling was named the MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week for the second time in his career.
ON LOCKDOWN: USC has averaged just over one goal against each period this season, pinning up solid scores to outweigh opponents 191-84 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 5.6 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, with USC averaing eight different scorers per game. 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. USC averages 12.7 goals per game, but not one player is averaging more than 1.8 goals per game.
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.
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 9-0 at home so far this year to hold an 18-game win streak in home waters.
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 34 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.
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.
