Saturday, September 15
Davis, CA
9:15 AM
USC
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UC Santa Barbara
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Photo by: Katie Chin
Top-Ranked Trojans Head North For Competition At The Aggie Roundup
September 12, 2018 | Men's Water Polo, Features
USC faces four more opponents in this weekend’s trip to Davis, Calif.
THIS WEEK
The No. 1 Trojans head north this week for a set of four games in Davis, Calif., at the Aggie Roundup. USC (7-0) will open up with two games against ranked opponents on Saturday (Sept. 15), taking on No. 7 UC Santa Barbara at 9:15 a.m. before a 1 p.m. clash with host No. 8 UC Davis. On Sunday (Sept. 16), USC is lined up against Whittier at 10:45 a.m. before wrapping things with a 2:30 p.m. matchup against Fresno Pacific.
RANKINGS
USC started its 2018 journey holding strong at No. 2 in the preseason national rankings, and after one week of work the Trojans bumped up into a tie at No. 1 in the nation. This week (as of Sept. 12), USC now stands alone as the No. 1 team in the land. The Trojans wrapped 2017 at No. 2 in the land after reaching the NCAA final for the 13th consecutive season.
SCOUTING UCSB
The Gauchos are 6-1 overall after four wins at the Inland Empire Classic last week, beating Chapman 14-5, Whittier 24-5, La Verne 29-4 and Concordia 18-5 at the event. Boris Jovanovich leads UCSB in scoring with 26 goals to date. USC is 72-12-2 all-time against the Gauchos with wins in the past 54 meetings. Last year, USC beat UCSB 6-3 in Santa Barbara.
SCOUTING UCD
The Aggies are 4-2 overall after a 13-10 loss to Cal and a 16-8 win over San José State last week. Jack Stafford leads UC Davis in scoring with 15 goals to date. USC is 15-0 all-time against the Aggies. The last meeting was in 2014, with USC posting a 19-3 win over UC Davis that season.
SCOUTING WC
The Poets are 1-4 overall after losses to Long Beach State (15-3) and UC Santa Barbara (24-5) last week. USC is 8-0 all-time against Whittier after a 25-4 win over the Poets earlier this season.
SCOUTING FPU
The Sunbirds are 0-3 overall after losses to UCLA (17-7), Pomona-Pitzer (12-7) and Whittier (12-9) in their first weekend of competition. USC is 5-0 all-time against Fresno Pacific, last facing off in 2017 with the Trojans winning 24-3.
LAST ACTION
USC grabbed five powerful wins last week, sparked by a record-setting win in the Trojans' home opener. Playing Concordia in the first home game of the year, USC rattled off 14 straight goals en route to a final 32-7 win that marked the most goals ever scored in a single game by the Trojans. Among the 14 Trojan scorers on the day were five USC newcomers who plugged in their first goals in home waters to help USC along to the program-record scoring output. Leading the pack were a trio of Trojans — all underclassmen — as freshman Hannes Daube and sophomores Jacob Mercep and Marko Vavic each tallied four goals apiece. Two days later, USC started up action at the Inland Empire Classic. On Saturday in Redlands, USC gave up just two goals in each game while displaying dominant offense across the board in claiming a 23-2 win over host Redlands followed by a 17-2 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. On a hot day in Redlands, the Trojans were relatively slow to warm up in their opener, holding a 3-1 lead on the host Bulldogs after eight minutes of work in game one. USC would create some space in moving ahead 8-2 by halftime before unleashing eight goals in the third period of play. The USC defense, meanwhile, shut out Redlands for the entire second half as freshman goalie Nic Porter amassed 10 saves in his first complete-game effort in the cage for the Trojans. By the final buzzer, freshmen Daube and Jake Ehrhardt were topping the scoresheet with five and four goals, respectively. In all, 11 Trojans got to the back of the net in the 23-2 win over Redlands in USC's first game of the day. Not a half hour later, the Trojans got back to work with a face-off against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Sophomore transfer Vaios Vlahotasios manned the cage for the first half of this one, making six saves and allowing just one goal while the USC offense rattled off 11 goals by the halftime break. Redshirt freshman Matt Moran-Flores capped up in the cage next and also saw just one goal get by him as he gathered in five saves to do his part to back up another staunch Trojan defensive effort. On the attacking end, it was Vavic who led the pack with four goals, followed by a hat trick from Mercep. In his first action of the season, sophomore Christian Hockenbury plugged in his first goal of the year to help USC along to a final 17-2 decision over the Stags. On Sunday, USC set up camp in La Verne, and opened up with a 23-5 victory over Concordia before turning to take down host La Verne 20-5. The Trojans surrendered the first goal of the day to Concordia but promptly rattled off the next nine goals and would wind up leading things 13-2 by halftime. Vavic and Mercep combined for seven of those first-half goals, finishing the game with five and four goals, respectively, to lead the Trojans' offensive charge. By the final buzzer, 13 different Trojans had lit the lamp in the final 23-5 win, while freshman goalie Sam Krutonog laid claim to his first complete-game outing as a Trojan. Krutonog tallied six saves in his four periods of work against the Eagles. USC would turn around and face a second challenger next, taking on host La Verne for the Trojans' final game at the two-day event in the Inland Empire. For this one, Moran-Flores and Vlahotasios combined forces in the cage, with Moran-Flores gathering four saves during the first half of action before Vlahotasios stepped in and collected two stops in the second half. Offensively the Trojans were on the mark once again. This time there were 12 Trojans on the scoresheet, with redshirt junior Sam Slobodien leading the way with a hat trick while six more players generated a brace apiece. USC scored the first seven goals of the game and would lead this one 12-3 at halftime en route to a final 20-5 victory for the visitors. After pumping in 12 goals, 11 assists and seven steals across USC's five wins, Hannes Daube was named the MPSF Newcomer of the Week.
OPENING WEEKEND
USC exploded out of the gates of the 2018 season in nabbing two communing victories in the Trojans' first official action of the season last weekend. Out at the UCLA Mini Invitational, USC pinned up a 16-1 win over No. 17 Pomona-Pitzer in the morning before delivering a 25-4 victory over Whittier. In building out a 2-0 start to the year, 12 players registered their first stats as Trojans. Six newcomers scored their first career goals, and four goalies notched their first career saves capped up as Trojans. In the opener, senior captain Zach D'Sa opened the Trojans' account, lighting the fuse on an 11-0 scoring rally in the first half by USC against No. 17 Pomona-Pitzer. During that surge, newcomers Hannes Daube, Jacob Mercep and Orestis Apergi punched up their first goals as Trojans while freshman goalie Sam Krutonog had an eight-save haul in his USC debut during the first half. In the second half, redshirt freshman goalie Matt Moran-Flores checked in for his first official minutes in the cage, backing up a stingy USC defense that allowed just a single Sagehen score down the stretch. Meanwhile, two more USC newcomers — Jake Ehrhardt and James Kolenda — pumped in their first USC goals to help the Trojans along to a final 16-1 victory. Mercep's hat trick had him as the scoring leader for the Trojans in this one, leading a pack of 10 USC scorers. Hours later, the Trojans were right back to it, taking on Whittier for game two of the season. This one saw another pair of new USC goalies share time in the cage, with freshman Nic Porter getting the start and transfer Vaios Vlahotasios coming in for the second half of action. Porter would pick up three saves, and Vlahotasios tallied six in his first 16 minutes of work as a Trojan. On the offensive end, relative veterans Marin Dasic and Daniel Leong led the charge with four goals apiece, topping a group of 12 Trojans to get to the back of the net in the 25-4 win. Along the way, freshman Alexander Lansill knocked in his first USC goal, becoming the sixth Trojan newcomer to score on the day.
BY THE NUMBERS
Seven games deep into the 2018 season, top-ranked USC is exhibiting great depth and balance. The Trojans have outscored opponents 156-26, averaging 22.3 goals per game and allowing just 3.7 goals-against per game. Leading the offensive charge so far is sophomore Marko Vavic with 21 goals, while six other Trojans have also hit double digits. Sophomore Jacob Mercep is just behind Vavic with 18 goals to date, with freshman Hannes Daube next with 16. On the defensive end, USC has utilized four goalies, with freshman Sam Krutonog in the lead with 17 saves in three appearances. Just behind Krutonog on the saves chart is freshman Nic Porter with 15, sophomore transfer Vaios Vlahotasios with 14 saves and redshirt freshman Matt Moran-Flores with 12. In all, USC has had 16 Trojans score goals to date, with six USC newcomers in that mix.
10 IN TWENTY?
As USC water polo prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the program's first national championship, the 2018 Trojans are looking to add a 10th NCAA title to the storied program's collection of championship trophies. Under the guidance of head coach Jovan Vavic, who has been on-hand for all nine of the USC men's NCAA titles and all six of the USC women's national championships, the Trojan men are riding an unprecedented streak of 13 consecutive NCAA finals reached as they kick off this 2018 campaign.
ATTACKING BACK
Leading the charge for the Trojans is an arsenal of offensive firepower that is, in a word, daunting. USC's five returning members of the 2017 NCAA roster — Zach D'Sa, Marin Dasic and Sam Slobodien, two-time All-American Matt Maier and All-American and 2017 top scorer Marko Vavic — combined for 158 goals, which was 35 percent of USC's total scoring output on the year. But wait, there's more. For this 2018 campaign, USC has added in two high-powered transfers that help balloon that tally to 274. Last season as a true freshman at San José State, Jacob Mercep whipped up 93 goals and earned All-American honors. Sawyer Rhodes delivered 23 while at Stanford before both he and Mercep changed course to Troy.
CAGE FIGHTERS
After Cutino Award winner and Olympian McQuin Baron manned the cage almost single-handedly for the past four seasons, the Trojans are loaded up with goalies this year. Having five capable goalies in the mix lifts the level of competition in practice and forces the USC shooters to continually recalibrate their strategies for hitting the back of the net. As the season openers quickly approach, Vavic has his eyes on Australian Nic Porter and local product Sam Krutonog as his frontrunners. But he's been impressed, too, with the abilities of Matt Moran-Flores, Paul Matt and Vaios Vlahotasios.
FIFTEEN FRESH FACES
USC's goalkeeping corps boasts four newcomers, who comprise just a corner of the 15-man class of incoming Trojans for 2018. Transfers Jacob Mercep and Sawyer Rhodes offer an instant dose of experience, but this new crew most certainly contains a number of impact freshmen as well. Most notably, USC gets a sizable boost from U.S. National Team members Hannes Daube and Jake Ehrhardt. Looming at 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-6, respectively, Daube and Ehrhardt are a double dose of danger for opposing teams. Add to that the even more international experience from Greece's Orestis Apergi and Aussies Corey Allan and James Kolenda, and the Trojan depth charge becomes even more apparent. Further, the Trojan freshman talent pool grows ever deeper with the addition of California products Mason Farley, Alexander Lansill and Bennett Winther.
LAST SEASON
Last year, the USC men finished 27-4 overall, winning the 2017 MPSF Tournament and reaching the NCAA final for the 13th straight year. That USC roster would see six 2017 All-Americans play their final seasons, including senior first-teamers McQuin Baron and Lachlan Edwards. USC had two underclassmen earn All-America status last year, with freshman Marko Vavic picking up a second team selection and sophomore Matt Maier earning honorable mention. •
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