University Southern California Trojans
Top-Seeded Trojans Armed To Defend NCAA Title
November 29, 2006 | Men's Water Polo
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Nov. 29, 2006
THIS WEEK
The Trojans have had their focus on this weekend all season. USC has the opportunity to claim back-to-back men's water polo national championships for the first time in program history with their 20th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. First, the Trojans (25-1) will have to get past East Coast representative Navy, the No. 4 seed in the tournament with a 24-5 overall record. USC faces Navy at 12 p.m. on Saturday (Dec. 2) at host Loyola Marymount. The Trojans will then face either No. 2 seed California (29-4) or No. 3 seed UC San Diego (25-5) on Sunday (Dec. 3). The third-place game will be held at 12 p.m., with the NCAA championship match set for 2 p.m. Livestats will be provided for all four games and live audio for the two semifinals and the consolation game at LMU's Tournament Central. The championship game will be televised live on CSTV.
GET THERE
Buy your tickets for this weekend's action through the LMU Ticket Office at 310-338-5466. More information on tickets and the tournament is also available at LMU's TOURNAMENT CENTRAL.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
At Bucknell University in 2005, the Trojans emerged with their third national championship after posting a 3-2 victory over Stanford in the lowest scoring NCAA final in history. USC opened the 2005 NCAA Tournament with a 14-8 win over St. Francis in the semifinal match. Against Stanford the next day, Juan Delgadillo, Ted Zepfel and Pavol Valovic each scored for the Trojans, while eventual NCAA Tournament Co-MVP Adam Shilling made nine saves in goal for USC to get the Trojans the tight victory and finish off the best season in program history with a 26-1 overall record. USC ended the season averaging 9.4 goals per game and leading the nation defensively with 5.3 goals against per game. The Trojans ended the year on a 19-game winning streak.
AND NOW...
This year, USC has a relatively fresh slate coming into the NCAA Tournament. With a loss to California in the MPSF championship game, the Trojans are looking to restart a win streak to carry them into back-to-back NCAA championships. USC is averaging 12.5 goals per game offensively and 5.4 goals against per game defensively. That extra scoring punch lapsed somewhat in the last two MPSF tournament games for USC, but the Trojans defense has remained strong throughout -- only one team has managed to score double figures against USC this year -- as they continue to lead the nation in defense.
THE CONTENDERS
The three other teams in the NCAA Tournament bring in solid records from their various conference-championship seasons. No. 4 seed Navy enters the field as the winner out of the Collegiate Water Polo Association with a 24-5 record that includes wins over MPSF teams Long Beach State and UC Irvine. No. 3 seed UC San Diego grabbed the automatic berth out of the Western Water Polo Association, bringing a 25-5 overall record that includes wins over MPSF squads UCLA, Pacific, UC Irvine, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara. Three of second-seeded California's four losses were dealt to the Bears by the Trojans this year. Cal's fourth loss this year was to Stanford, as the Bears bring in a 29-4 overall record into the NCAA action after getting their automatic seat as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament champion. Cal has won 11 NCAA titles, with the last coming in 1992. Neither Navy nor UC San Diego have ever won an NCAA crown, and no team from outside California has ever won the title since NCAA men's water polo opened in 1969.
THE RIVALRIES
USC has not played Navy this season. The teams have faced five times during NCAA competition, with the Trojans holding a 5-0 record against Navy in the postseason and a 9-0 record all-time. The pair last squared off in the 2003 NCAA Semifinal, with USC claiming a 10-6 victory on the way to winning the 2003 national championship... USC has played UC San Diego only once this season -- a tight 10-9 Trojan win in the semifinals of the SoCal Tournament on Oct. 15. USC is 31-2 all-time against the Tritons, having won the past three games. UCSD last won in a 7-3 decision on Oct. 7, 2001... USC and California have clashed four times already this season -- three times in tournament championship games. The Bears snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Trojans with their recent win in the MPSF title match. USC is 42-48-2 all-time against Cal, and is 2-4 against the Bears in NCAA meetings. The pair last faced in an NCAA match in 1994, when USC posted an 11-6 NCAA semifinal victory over Cal.
MPSF RECAP
The Trojans finished off MPSF play undefeated in the regular season and ran their winning streak up to 44 straight games to more than double the previous program best. Wins No. 43 and 44 came in the first two MPSF Tournament games as USC downed UC Irvine 13-2 before beating Stanford 5-3 in the semifinals. In the MPSF final, however, with the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament up for grabs, California posted a comeback win over USC for a 6-5 victory that claimed the MPSF championship for the Bears. Cal was awarded its second penalty shot of the game just before the final minute of regulation and converted to get the win. USC had led the game 4-2 at halftime, but could manage just one score in the second half -- leaving the Trojans with their second straight, season-low, five-goal game. Gabor Sarusi was USC's leading scorer in the tournament with five goals -- two against UC Irvine and California and one against Stanford. Tommy Corcoran, Pavol Valovic and Thomas Hale were next with three apiece, and goalie Adam Shilling tallied 23 saves during the tourney, including 11 against Cal in the final. Corcoran, Hale and Juan Delgadillo all were named to the MPSF All-Tournament Team following the action.
THE MPSF'S FINEST:
For the second straight season, USC head coach Jovan Vavic has been named the MPSF Coach of the Year. It's a clean sweep once again for USC, as the MPSF Player of the Year also goes to a Trojan -- senior driver Juan Delgadillo. Vavic has guided USC to another outstanding season, helping the Trojans along to a program-best 44-game winning streak after an undefeated run through the regular season. In his 12th season at the helm of USC's men's water polo team, Vavic has his Trojans leading the nation in defense with 5.4 goals against per game and now in line to defend their 2005 national championship this weekend. He has kept intact his winning record against all opponents during his time at Troy with a 25-1 record as USC enters the NCAA Tournament. This is his third MPSF Coach of the Year award on the men's side of the game (2003, 2005, 2006) and his fifth overall (Women's Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2004). Delgadillo has won two national championships already with the Trojans and is the team's leading scorer with 48 goals. A defensive force as well as a formidable counterattack striker, Delgadillo was an All-MPSF First Team selection as a junior. Now a senior, Delgadillo is following in the footsteps of 2005 MPSF Player of the Year Juraj Zatovic as the Trojans' top scorer. He has gotten to the back of the cage in 22 games this year, with 15 multiple-goal efforts including a five-goal outing against UC Irvine on Oct. 28. With his scoring output so far this year, Delgadillo has climbed to rank No. 10 all-time on USC's career scoring charts with 137 goals -- just ahead of fellow senior Thomas Hale's 133 career goals. Delgadillo also was named MPSF Player of the Week after 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 on Sept. 17.
RANK AND FILE
The Trojans spent 10 straight weeks as the nation's top-ranked team on the way into last week's MPSF Tournament. USC spent the last seven weeks of 2005 as the top-ranked team but was displaced in 2006 by California to open the year and was No. 2 for three weeks until topping Cal in the Northern California Tournament championship game on Sept. 17. USC ranks No. 2 this week, with Cal ranked No. 1. Navy is No. 12 and UC San Diego is No. 5.
NEVER BETTER
USC's 23-0 sweep through the regular season marks the first time since men's water polo became an NCAA sport in 1969 that the Trojans have gone undefeated in the regular season. USC went 5-0 in 1944 -- long before the NCAA recognized the sport. No NCAA team has posted an undefeated overall record since California went 31-0 in 1992.
STREAK SMARTS
OK... everyone is wondering where the Trojans' 44-game winning streak stands. By hitting win No. 35 with its win over UCLA, the team passed up 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 44-game run has well overtook the program's previous best winning streak of 17 games, but it is still seven wins short of the all-time longest men's water polo winning streak in the country -- held at 51 by Stanford (1985-1987). USC's game winning streak was built in part by a prestigious tournament win streak. USC's 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). At home, USC has won the past 22 games at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
SHUTDOWN STREET
It's been a trend of sorts. USC opponents who may have caught 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 13 different opponents in at least one regulation frame. Only six teams have avoided a shutout period 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 140 goals between them to account for 43 percent of USC's scoring. Freshman J.W. Krumpholz leads them all with 35 goals to stand as USC's third best scorer this season.
ADD `EM UP
Junior goalie Adam Shilling has proven himself a wall in the cage again this season, just recently moving past the 300 career save mark to now hold 347. He also has 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. He now boasts a 2006 total of 148 saves with a MPSF-leading goals-against average of 4.8 and a saves average of 7.1. 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.
ONE-TWO-THREE PUNCH
USC boasts quite possibly the most well-rounded senior class on the planet. Though all three are speedy drivers, the senior tandem of Juan Delgadillo, Thomas Hale and Pavol Valovic has been a linchpin for the Trojans this year. Delgadillo and Hale present the top two scoring threats on the squad -- and both sit as USC's No. 10 and No. 11 all-time scorers, respectively. Delgadillo presents a flashy and versatile right-handed scorer who monopolizes the attention of opposing defenses, while Hale wields one of the sharpest left-handed strikes in the business and has buried more than a few game-winning goals himself in his years at Troy. Newer to the Trojan roster is Valovic, but his tactical smarts and blazing speed have won him almost every opening sprint and made him a creative option offensively as well as a pesky and stubborn shut-down defender.
ON LOCKDOWN
USC has averaged just over one goal against each period this season, pinning up solid scores to outweigh opponents 324-140 thus far in 2006. USC was No. 1 in the nation in team defense last year, averaging 5.3 goals against per game, and the Trojans remain the nation's top team once again, ranked No. 1 with 5.4 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 averaging alsost 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 the lowest scoring game of the year -- a 5-3 win over Stanford -- the Trojans had four different players get on the board. The widespread scoring started early and has remained heated as a grand total of 16 Trojans have found their ways to the back of the net this year. USC averages 12.5 goals per game, but no one player is averaging more than two goals a 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 finished 13-0 at home this year to hold a 22-game win streak in home waters.
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.
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.
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.
