Thursday, September 21
Los Angeles, CA
5:00 PM
USC
vs
UC San Diego
Players Mentioned
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2M
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UT
/ Men's Water Polo
DR
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DR
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2M
/ Men's Water Polo
UT
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DR
/ Men's Water Polo
G
/ Men's Water Polo
2M
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DR
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DR
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UT
/ Men's Water Polo
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/ Men's Water Polo
Photo by: John McGillen
Busy Week Ahead For No. 2 USC As Host Of Mountain Pacific Invitational
September 20, 2017 | Men's Water Polo, Features
Trojans host UC San Diego Thursday before the three-day 2017 Mountain Pacific Invite kicks off Friday at Uytengsu.
THIS WEEK
After adding four wins to their record and seeing goalie McQuin Baron break USC's career saves record last weekend, the No. 2 Trojans return home for a busy stretch of action at Uytengsu Aquatics Center. Before setting up as host of half the field at the 2017 Mountain Pacific Invitational, USC (9-0) will take on No. 13 UC San Diego (3-6) in a 5 p.m. faceoff on Thursday (Sept. 21) in USC's home waters. The next day, competition kicks off at the Invitational, which features a 16-team field. USC hosts the first games of bracket play for groups B and C on Friday (Sept. 22) while groups A and D compete across town at LMU's Burns Recreation Center. Friday's winning teams will compete at Uytengsu Aquatics Center for the remainder of competition, with consolation play taking place at LMU. On Saturday (Sept. 23), the final games of the day will feature semifinals at 4:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. On Sunday (Sept. 24) the placement games get underway, capped by a third-place game at 1 p.m. and the championship match at 2:30 p.m. Host USC opens things up at home on Friday with a 1 p.m. clash against San José State, then will turn to face either No. 7 UC Santa Barbara or No. 10 UC Irvine on Saturday morning to conclude bracket play. For the complete tournament schedule, visit the TOURNAMENT CENTRAL PAGE.
RANKINGS
USC started its 2017 journey holding strong at No. 2 in the preseason national rankings. The Trojans wrapped 2016 at No. 2 in the land after reaching the NCAA final for the 12th consecutive season. Entering the fourth week of 2017 competition, USC remains ranked at No. 2 in the nation.
SCOUTING UCSD
The No. 13 Tritons are 3-6 overall after beating Fresno Pacific 18-1 and losing to Cal 20-10 last week. Connor Turnbow-Lindenstadt leads UCSD in scoring with 22 goals, and goalie Sam Thompson has made 69 saves to date. USC is 33-2 all-time against the Tritons with wins in the past four meetings, including a 17-5 win in the teams' last meeting back in 2013. UCSD's last win over USC was a 7-3 decision in 2001.
MOUNTAIN PACIFIC INVITE NOTES
The Mountain Pacific Invitational is in its second year of existence, designed as the premier regular-season tournament and set to rotate between Northern California and Southern California hosts each year. The three-day event incorporates 16 teams from around the nation. This year's event is hosted by USC and LMU and features 14 of the nation's top-20 teams, including the entire top 10. Last year at the event in Berkeley, USC grabbed a 21-4 win over Santa Clara to start, then notched a 9-4 win over Long Beach State. That put the Trojans in a semifinal clash against host Cal, and the Golden Bears were able to pull off a 10-8 win to relegate USC to the third-place game. There, the Trojans topped Pacific with a decisive 8-3 victory to claim third at the 2016 tourney.
LAST WEEK
USC picked up four wins at the Aggie Roundup hosted by UC Davis last week, beating Cal Baptist 16-3, MIT 25-5, Santa Clara 20-3 and Long Beach State 13-5. USC had nine scorers account for its first nine goals of the game against Cal Baptist. By the final buzzer, Matt Maier, Marko Vavic, Thomas Dunstan and Bryce Hoerman had doubled up on their early goals, while Daniel Leong checked into the scoresheet and tallied a pair of his own. USC held a slim 3-2 lead early in the second period, then scored three in a row to take a 6-2 lead at halftime. The Lancers' final goal of the game would come early in the third, making it 7-3 before the Trojans poured on the last nine goals of the game to close things out with authority. Senior goalie McQuin Baron went the distance in the cage, finishing with seven saves to bulk up his career count to 851 — just four goals away from all-time saves leader Joel Dennerley's 855. By halftime of the next game — a first-time clash against MIT — Baron had broken through. While the USC offense clicked off a 15-1 lead, Baron hauled in five saves, matching the record with his fourth and then setting the new high-water mark in taking over as USC's all-time saves leader with his fifth of the game and 856th of his Trojan career. The career day continued, as Baron's fellow senior Lachlan Edwards hammered home five goals. Back-to-back strikes from Edwards made it a career-high five for the Aussie early in the third in taking the Trojans to a 16-2 lead over MIT. Also hitting big numbers in the eventual 25-5 USC win was Danny Leong, who drummed up four goals, and senior captain James Walters with a hat trick. With 12 goals among them, Edwards, Leong and Walters led a group of 13 Trojan scorers in the win over MIT. The next day in Davis, USC's efforts against Santa Clara in the day's opening match were well balanced. Twelve different Trojans tallied goals in the win, with eight Trojans scoring twice apiece. With Will Rubschlager in the cage for the last three periods of play, USC was able to silence Santa Clara in the third frame while bulking up USC's advantage from a 14-2 halftime lead to a 17-2 lead entering the fourth and final period of play. Marko Vavic's second of the day rounded out the scoring with USC's 20th goal in the 20-3 final decision against the Broncos. Next, USC turned to take on No. 6 Long Beach State in the Trojans final game of the Aggie Roundup. Matt Maier punched up the opening goal for the Trojans — the sophomore's first of an eventual three goals tallied for the Trojan cause. The 49ers would tie it up three times in the first half, snarling it up at 3-3 early in the second period before the Trojans rattled off the next four goals of the frame to lead it 7-3 at halftime. USC's newly crowned career saves leader, McQuin Baron, hauled in a couple nice saves during the third to add to his eventual count of 12 saves in the game. Long Beach State managed a pair of goals in the third, but would be silenced by Baron and the Trojan defense for the entirety of the fourth. USC's offense meanwhile, clicked off the last five goals of the game. Zach D'Sa nabbed a steal and came up with the finishing touch to get USC ahead 9-5 late in the third, followed by Maier's third goal of the game to push USC to a 10-5 lead entering the fourth. With a handful of clutch saves from Baron and strikes at the other end from Grant Stein, Dasic and Daniel Leong, the Trojans had securely locked in on a 13-5 win over Long Beach State.
RECORD-BREAKING BARON
On Sept. 16 in USC's first-ever meeting with MIT, senior goalie McQuin Baron broke USC's all-time career saves record with his fifth save of the game. That notched Baron's 856th save to edge out previous leader Joel Dennerley, who had set the USC record during his senior season on Sept. 18, 2011 — almost exactly six years earlier. Baron already held the USC record for single-season saves, set his freshman year with 288 saves collected in 2014. Now, Baron looks to bulk up his numbers further as the 2016 Cutino Award winner and Olympian continues to man the cage for the Trojans and keep his team in pursuit of a NCAA championship.
CLIMB ON
While McQuin Baron tops the saves leaderboard at USC, a set of All-American senior sharpshooters are charging up the scoring charts. After three weeks of work in 2017, Grant Stein has climbed to No. 19 all-time with 125 career goals, closely followed by Matteo Morelli at No. 20 with 124. Just a step behind are brothers Blake Edwards and Lachlan Edwards, who are matched with 123 apiece.
ALL-AMERICAN EDGE
With eight All-Americans back in the water for 2017, USC head coach Jovan Vavic has more All-American talent than he has room for in his starting lineup. In that core group of decorated All-Americans, seven are seniors. Two of them are repeat team captains — James Walters and returning top scorer Blake Edwards — both two-time All-Americans. One is Cutino Award winner McQuin Baron, who will soon be taking over as USC's all-time saves leader. Three more Trojan All-Americans — Matteo Morelli, Lachlan Edwards and Grant Stein — accumulated over 100 combined goals last year. The seventh — standing out as the brains of the group — is NCAA Elite 90 Award winner Mihajlo Milicevic, who stars as a stingy defender for the Trojan cause. The only first-time All-American in the crew is on his way in to his second season at USC, as sophomore Matt Maier returns to the pool as the 2016 MPSF Newcomer of the Year.
BY THE NUMBERS
Now nine games deep into 2017, the Trojans have displayed widespread scoring ability. Twenty-one Trojans scored on USC's first day of action — a doubleheader at the UCLA Mini Invitational. Since then, seniors Grant Stein and Lachlan Edwards stand as the most prolific Trojans to date with 15 goals each, followed by a trio of Trojans with 14 goals apiece — senior Matteo Morelli, sophomore Matt Maier and freshman Marko Vavic. Defensively, three goalies have capped up in the cage. McQuin Baron has appeared in all nine games, with double-digit saves recorded in a full game's work vs. Stanford and vs. Long Beach State. He's averaging 9.04 saves and 3.13 goals-against per game. Will Rubschlager and Simon Wu have shared time in backup roles to Baron, combining for 27 saves. In all, USC has outscored opponents 169-34. As a team, USC ranks No. 1 in the MPSF in defense (3.78 gapg) and in offense 18.78 (gpg).
DEPTH CHARGE
As valuable as USC's sizeable senior class is, Jovan Vavic has his eyes on a few other returners as linchpins in this season's efforts. Now sophomores, Olympian Thomas Dunstan, MPSF Newcomer of the Year Matt Maier and FINA Junior World Championship silver medalist Marin Dasic are even more prepared to be impact players for the Trojans. Junior Zach D'Sa and redshirt sophomore Daniel Leong both had breakout seasons last year and are primed for major playing time in 2017. Redshirt junior Tim Leong has also maneuvered his way into an increased role, while redshirt sophomore Sam Slobodien, too, made major strides last season and during the summer, lining himself up for extra duty at the two-meter mark along with fellow centers Maier, James Walters and Lachlan Edwards. In all, the Trojans return 90 percent of their scoring production from last season as well as their entire goalkeeping corps.
NEW CREW
Among the talented Trojan youth movement, Vavic taps redshirt freshmen Luke Wyatt, Chas Hornecker and Luka Karaman and true freshmen Marko Vavic and Christian Hockenbury as the brightest stars who are seeing the benefits of their hard work and skills developed in the run-up to this 2017 campaign. At 6-foot-6 and with U.S. National Team experience, Vavic stands to be a quick and powerful fit into his father's gameplan. Marko is the third of head coach Jovan Vavic's children to cap up at USC, following in the footsteps of older brother Nikola and sister Monica, who won a combined five NCAA Championships as Trojans.
OPENING DAY
Twenty-one Trojans got on the scoresheets in USC's season-opening action at the UCLA Mini Invitational. Fifteen Trojans logged goals in each game as USC posted a 27-3 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps followed by a 24-3 win over Pomona-Pitzer. Along the way, five Trojans — Marko Vavic, Troy Furniss, Christian Emerson, Christian Hockenbury and Chas Hornecker — registered their first career goals at USC.
TROJAN TRAVELS
In July, the Trojans took a trip through international waters, soaking up some sun while splashing down in seas, pools and rivers across France, Italy, Croatia and Montenegro. The Trojans set up camp in Nice (France), Recco (Italy), Split (Croatia) and Herceg Novi (Montenegro) while scrimmaging local teams and training for the upcoming 2017 season back in the USA. That European adventure brought the entire USC squad together as a team, offering up invaluable opportunities to gel in the water and out. In fact, the last three USC teams to take a similar summer training trip to Europe came back to the USA and won the national championship that same year. It's a theme that bodes well for the 2017 Trojans, who boast a senior class that is 13 Trojans strong and who have 11 redshirt freshmen and newcomers lined up for their first official action this season.
AND NOW, THIS
Now in his 23rd year at the helm of the USC water polo program, Jovan Vavic has guided the Trojans to the NCAA title match every season for the past 12 years. He's captured seven championships during that stretch. Last season, USC manufactured a 24-2 overall record, losing just one road game during the regular season, winning the MPSF Championship and then falling in a frustrating NCAA final that went to overtime in its opponent's home pool. This year, the Trojans are lined up as host of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, set for Dec. 2-3 at USC's own Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The last time the Trojans hosted the national championship, they capped it off by hoisting the 2012 championship trophy. This year, USC aims to once again successfully defend the Trojans' home waters while adding a 10th NCAA trophy to the men's collection of championships.
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