USC
UCLA (Championship)
Trojans Trip Up In MPSF Final Sudden Death
November 27, 2011 | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 27, 2011
WESTWOOD, CALIF. - The top-seeded and top-ranked USC men's water polo team was edged out in its bid for back-to-back MPSF Tournament championships by a sudden-death decision in favor of host UCLA in today's title match in Westwood. USC had fought out of a four-goal hole during regulation and tied it in the fourth and again in overtime to bring up sudden death, where the Bruins managed a score after the referee's whistle took the ball out of Trojan hands on their opening possession. The 10-9 decision gives No. 3 seeded UCLA the automatic berth in the upcoming NCAA Championships. The three-time defending national champion Trojans are a likely pick as the at-large team into the postseason. With a 13-game win streak snapped by today's loss, USC goes to 22-3 overall.
USC managed to finally shut down the Bruins in the fourth period of play while Trojans Kostas Genidounias and Nikola Vavic plugged in key goals to level the game at 7-7 with 2:24 to go in regulation. One last Joel Dennerley save sent the game into overtime, where UCLA struck first after Bruin goalie Matt Rapacz stopped a USC 6-on-5. Again the Trojans would find an equalizer as Jeremy Davie earned an ejection and put a quick finish to the power play with a blast to make it 8-8.
At the other end, however, USC got whistled for its 13th ejection of the game - making it an even count for a grand total of 26 ejections overall in the match - and UCLA went up again with a 6-on-5 score in the final minute of the first OT. In the second, USC's defense put the Bruins up against the shot clock on their first two possessions while Peter Kurzeka sliced home a score that locked up the game for the fourth time, at 9-9 with 1:42 on the clock. A USC offensive foul turned the ball over with 43 seconds left, but Dennerley slammed away UCLA's hopes of a go-ahead goal with 25 ticks to go, and the game would go into sudden death. That's where a speedy Michael Rosenthal set up USC for the first possession before things went awry again on a referee whistle blasting an offensive foul, sending UCLA off on the attack. Cristiano Mirarchi would deliver the winner, ending the game with a shot to the top left of the cage to give the hosts a 10-9 win and the automatic ticket to the NCAA Championships, which will be held Dec. 3-4 in Berkeley.
The Trojans had trailed 3-0 to start the game and were behind 5-1 midway through the second frame before making a four-goal run on scores from Stephen Siri, Forest Monroe, Vavic and Genidounias to lock it up 5-5 at 4:20 in the third. UCLA would keep USC from taking a lead by scoring the next two in the frame to go up 7-5 entering the fourth. The Bruins would finish with 10 different scorers in the game, while USC has Nikola Vavic and Kostas Genidiounias score two each to lead seven Trojans scorers. USC goalie Joel Dennerley had 10 saves, and UCLA's Matt Rapacz finished with 11.
USC now awaits final word on the at-large spot in the 2011 NCAA Championships when the bracket is announced tomorrow. As the undefeated team in the MPSF regular season and only three losses on the year, the Trojans are a likely pick to move on and make a push for an unprecedented fourth straight national championship.
MPSF Tournament (Westwood, Calif.)
Championship - Nov. 27, 2011
[3] UCLA 10, [1] USC 9 (SD)
USC 1 - 1 - 3 - 2 --- 1 - 1 --- 0 = 9
UCLA 4 - 1 - 2 - 0 --- 2 - 0 --- 1 = 10
SCORING:
USC - Nikola Vavic 2, Kostas Genidounias 2, Michael Rosenthal, Stephen Siri, Forest Monroe, Jeremy Davie, Peter Kurzeka.
UCLA - Hays, Hennessy, Lenhart, L. Reynolds, White, Wherry, Samuels, P. Reynolds, Barabino, Mirarchi.
SAVES: Joel Dennerley (USC) 10, Matt Rapacz (UCLA) 11.
Players Mentioned
