USC
UC Santa Barbara
No. 1 USC Set For SoCal Semis
October 11, 2008 | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 11, 2008
MALIBU, CALIF. - The top-ranked USC men's water polo team secured their semifinal ticket with a pair of strong wins on the first day of action at the SoCal Tournament, hosted by Pepperdine. The Trojans are aiming for their sixth consecutive SoCal tourney title this weekend and got a good head of steam into tomorrow's semis with today's 18-1 win over Pomona-Pitzer and 11-4 victory over UC Santa Barbara. USC's undefeated run through 2008 also remains intact, as the Trojans improve to 15-0 overall. The Trojans will face California tomorrow at 10:40 a.m. in the SoCal Tournament semifinals.
To open the day, USC had 14 different Trojans score in an early-morning matchup with Pomona-Pitzer. The stubborn USC defense was cracked just once in the first period, as Pomona-Pitzer got on the board after the Trojans opened with a 3-0 lead. From there, however, the scoring was all taken care of by the Trojans. Four finished with multiple-goal games, but nobody tallied more than a pair in a widespread scoring attack from USC. Juniors Nico Sardo and Anthony Artukovich were joined by freshmen Kevin May and Cem Carak with two goals apiece in the tournament opener to lead the set of 14 Trojan scorers.
Against UC Santa Barbara in the afternoon match, USC broke out of a tight 1-1 first period to outscore the Gauchos 5-1 in the second frame. Matt Sagehorn had two of his final three goals during that second-quarter onslaught, as USC took a 6-2 lead into halftime. After UCSB made it 6-3 to open the third, Sagehorn delivered his third of the day and Nico Sardo and Anthony Artukovich also struck for the Trojans to put the Gauchos well out of reach. By game's end Sagehorn's three-goal effort led nine Trojan scorers to a final of 11-4.
SoCal Tournament - Oct. 11-12 (Malibu, Calif.)
GAME ONE
USC 18, Pomona-Pitzer 1
P-P 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 -- 1
USC 6 - 6 - 5 - 1 -- 18
SCORING:
USC - Nico Sardo 2, Kevin May 2, Anthony Artukovich 2, Cem Carak 2, Kyle Sterling, Devon Borisoff, Arjan Ligtenberg, Shea Buckner, Matt Sagehorn, J.W. Krumpholz, Justin Rappel, Matthew Burton, Elliott Samuels, Ryan Cummins.
P-P - Bailikian.
SAVES: Tyler McManigal (USC) 7.
GAME TWO
USC vs. UC Santa Barbara
UCSB 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 -- 4
USC 1 - 5 - 3 - 2 -- 11
SCORING:
USC - Matt Sagehorn 3, Anthony Artukovich 2, Justin Rappel, J.W. Krumpholz, Shea Buckner, Nico Sardo, Jordan Thompson, Jovan Vranes.
UCSB - Tootel, Golic, Swift, Natalizio.
SAVES: Joel Dennerley (USC) 4.
