USC
St. Francis (NY)
Trojans In Stride For NCAA Final
December 04, 2010 | Men's Water Polo
Dec. 4, 2010
BERKELEY, CALIF. - The top-seeded USC men's water polo team never trailed, but didn't take an easy road to its sixth straight NCAA title match as the Trojans pulled out a 10-7 win over No. 4 seed St. Francis in today's semifinal match. USC led by six, but the Terriers closed to within two in the fourth period before the two-time defending national champs got a cushion to lock in for the win. Now 27-2 overall with a 12-game win streak in tow, USC will go for its third straight national championship tomorrow in the final at 3 p.m. in Berkeley, Calif., against host Cal. The final will be streamed live online at ncaa.com.
St. Francis goalie Igor Mladenovic put up a stubborn wall in the cage against the Trojan attack in amassing 17 saves in the game, but USC's Joel Dennerley proved a similarly daunting force behind the USC defense. Dennerley slammed down 13 saves in the game to climb up to No. 3 all-time in career saves at USC. The MPSF Player of the Year will enter tomorrow's championship game five saves away from taking over at No. 2 all-time.
USC's offense slumped in the fourth period of play as St. Francis managed a four-goal scoring run that carried the Terriers to within two, down 9-7 with 4:25 remaining in the game. Dennerley took a stand next, however, tallying another clutch save against a dangerous St. Francis 6-on-5 chance. A Terrier offensive foul sparked a USC counterattack next, and Tobias Preuss finished it off on his own, notching his second goal of the day and bumping the Trojans ahead 10-7 with 3:02 to go. Three more Dennerley saves locked down the win for USC, punching the Trojans' ticket to the title match. Preuss was joined by Peter Kurzeka with a pair of goals to lead USC's attack of eight different scorers. St. Francis got two apiece from Stefan Gencic and Alexander Pantic to lead the Terriers.
USC opened up the game with a couple even scores to counter stops from Mladenovic on Trojan 6-on-5 chances. Nikola Vavic hit Michael Rosenthal for a blast from the post, and Connor Virjee delivered a pass to Preuss for a 2-0 USC lead midway through the first period. St. Francis would strike on a 6-on-5 next, but USC answered with back-to-back goals - the first a 5-meter from Nikola Vavic set up by more hard work at set by Jeremy Davie, and the second a 6-on-5 strike from Kurzeka that made it 4-1 USC. The Terriers got another 6-on-5 opportunity to go before the end of the frame, making it a 4-2 USC lead entering the second.
The second was comparatively quiet, with the Trojans ringing up the only goal of the frame with a smooth passing series that saw Kurzeka hit Mace Rapsey and Rapsey found Matt Burton alone on the post for a lob and a 5-2 USC advantage going into halftime.
USC would grab a four-goal lead early in the second half on a nearside strike from Kurzeka, and responded to a St. Francis score to the corner with a quick 6-on-5 blast from Rapsey off a pass from Cem Carak. USC looked to go on cruise control from there in rattling off two more scores - one from Forest Monroe and another to the low post by Virjee - but the 9-3 deficit didn't deter the Terriers. That's when St. Francis rallied back into it with its four-goal run that would eventual come to a close at the hands of Dennerley.
2010 NCAA Championships (Berkeley, Calif.)
SEMIFINAL - Saturday, Dec. 4
[1] USC 10, [4] St. Francis 7
USC 4 - 1 - 4 - 1 = 10
StF 2 - 0 - 2 - 3 = 7
SCORING:
USC - Tobias Preuss 2, Peter Kurzeka 2, Michael Rosenthal, Nikola Vavic, Matt Burton, Mace Rapsey, Forest Monroe, Connor Virjee.
StF - Stefan Gencic 2, Alexander Pantic 2, Bosko Stankovic, Filip Sasic, Boris Plavsic.
SAVES: Joel Dennerley (USC) 13, Igor Mladenovic (StF) 17.
Players Mentioned
