Friday, September 28
Riverside, CA
12:00 PM
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at
California Baptist
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Photo by: Catharyn Hayne
Top-Ranked Trojans Hit Riverside For Lancer Joust, Then Home For UC Santa Barbara
September 26, 2018 | Men's Water Polo, Features
Undefeated USC will face four foes in Riverside before a Sunday home clash with No. 5 Gauchos.
THIS WEEK
The No. 1 Trojans have another busy stretch ahead, with five games slated for a three-day span of action this week. First, USC (12-0) will do battle at the Lancer Joust on Friday and Saturday for two games a day before returning home for a single-game clash on Sunday. Out in Riverside on Friday (Sept. 28), USC will take on host No. 14 Cal Baptist (7-7) at 12 p.m. to kick off the Lancer Joust. Immediately after, the Trojans have a 1:30 p.m. meeting with La Verne. On Saturday (Sept. 29), USC lines up against Concordia for the third time this season at 2 p.m. before a repeat battle with Redlands at 3:30 p.m. to wrap USC's run in Riverside. On Sunday (Sept. 30), the Trojans are back in home waters for a 1 p.m. face-off with No. 5 UC Santa Barbara at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
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. In week two, USC took sole possession of the top spot, and the Trojans remain at No. 1 in this week's rankings (as of Sept. 26). The Trojans wrapped 2017 at No. 2 in the land after reaching the NCAA final for the 13th consecutive season.
SCOUTING CBU
The No. 14 Lancers enter the week 7-7 overall after falling to UC Davis 12-10 and beating Redlands 14-10 last week. Dominick Nevarez is CBU's top scorer with 27 goals. USC is 13-0 all-time against Cal Baptist after a 16-6 win when the teams last met in 2017.
SCOUTING LA VERNE
The Leopards enter the week at 2-8 overall after a 7-4 win over Cal Lutheran last week. USC is 6-0 all-time against La Verne after a 20-5 win when the teams met earlier this season at the Inland Empire Classic.
SCOUTING CONCORDIA
The Eagles enter the week at 3-8 overall after a 14-4 loss to UC Davis last week. USC is 9-0 all-time against the Eagles after two wins posted this season — a 32-7 victory in USC's home opener and a 23-5 victory at the Inland Empire Classic.
SCOUTING REDLANDS
The Bulldogs enter the week at 3-9 overall after a 6-4 loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and a 14-10 loss to Cal Baptist last week. USC is 10-0 all-time against Redlands after a 23-2 win when the teams met earlier this season at the Inland Empire Classic.
SCOUTING UCSB
The No. 5 Gauchos are 12-4 overall after beating Pepperdine 16-14 and losing to Stanford 9-7 last week. Boris Jovanovich leads UCSB in scoring with 50 goals to date. USC is 73-12-2 all-time against the Gauchos with wins in the past 55 meetings, including a 10-3 Trojan win earlier this season at the Aggie Roundup.
LAST ACTION
USC showed its resiliency last weekend, rebounding from a three-goal deficit to soundly beat visiting No. 6 Pacific after a five-goal scoring surge got USC on pace toward an 11-8 Trojan victory at Uytengsu Aquatics Center. While freshman goalie Nic Porter set an early career mark for himself with 14 saves in the cage, seven Trojans rattled the back of the net to help lift USC to the comeback win. Pacific pounced early and scored first on a 5-meter penalty shot. Senior Zach D'Sa would level it with a blast less than a minute later, but the Tigers were undeterred. Pacific promptly punched in three straight goals to craft a 4-1 lead on its hosts, and that's where the first period would end. In the second, however, the Trojans got back to business. Jake Ehrhardt opened things with a steal, and soon after it was Matt Maier who hit Sawyer Rhodes for a score that marked the sophomore's first career goal as a Trojan. It also lit the fuse on USC's comeback efforts. Porter made a sweet save at the near post next, and then Marin Dasic set up Maier for a rocket out of set to get USC within one. Another Porter save shut down a Pacific power play, and then Maier sailed a long pass to a countering Jacob Mercep. Mercep fired, and the Trojans and Tigers were even at 4-4 with 3:12 on the clock. Less than a minute later, D'Sa zipped in a laser that was too strong for the Pacific goalie to handle, and that was the go-ahead for the Trojans. But USC wasn't done. After a Rhodes steal, USC got up on a 6-on-5, and Dasic delivered USC's fifth straight goal to make it a 6-4 USC advantage in the final minute of the half. Pacific had a follow-up, converting a 6-on-5 of its own before the buzzer, but USC's lead was in effect with a 6-5 Trojan halftime advantage. In the third, USC ballooned its lead to a four-goal margin with three straight scores — a ripper from Sam Slobodien and then back-to-back bullets from Mercep and Marko Vavic — to stake a 9-5 lead by the midway point of the frame. Pacific would convert a power play late in the third, and then get another nice 6-on-5 finish to open the fourth to make it a two-goal game at 9-7. Again, USC fired back, as Maier netted his second of the day before Mercep made it a hat trick for himself to answer a Pacific score, wrapping the day as an 11-8 USC victory in home waters..
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.
WEEKLY WARRIORS
USC's freshman class has made its presence known in these early goings of 2018, with three different Trojans claiming the last three MPSF Newcomer of the Week awards. Hannes Daube picked up his first award as a Trojan on Sept. 10 after he scored 12 goals and had 11 assists and seven steals across five USC wins in the second week of action. In USC's home opener, Daube scored four goals to help the Trojans to a program-record 32 goals in a win over Concordia. Days later at the Inland Empire Classic, Daube led the Trojans with five goals in a 23-2 win over Redlands, adding one in a 17-2 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. On Sunday at the event, Daube scored once in wins over Concordia (23-5) and La Verne (20-5) to finish the week with 12 total goals. The very next week, goalie Sam Krutonog was named MPSF Newcomer of the Week on Sept. 17 after setting an early career high for himself with 10 saves in a complete game's work during top-ranked USC's 10-3 win over No. 7 UC Santa Barbara. With Krutonog in the cage, the Gauchos were shut out in the second and final periods as the Trojans claimed a decisive win in the first game of the Aggie Roundup. After his 10-save outing, Krutonog is now averaging 9.0 saves and 3.33 goals-against per game in 12 periods of work to date. Most recently, yet another USC freshman had a career day that earned MPSF Newcomer of the Week accolades. On Sept. 24, goalie Nic Porter got the nod after making 14 saves in a full game's work during an 11-8 win over No. 6 Pacific. After the visiting Tigers took a 4-1 lead in the first period, Porter would amass 12 saves in the next three periods to back up USC's comeback rally to stay undefeated on the year.
BY THE NUMBERS
Twelve games deep into the 2018 season, top-ranked USC is exhibiting great depth and balance. The Trojans have outscored opponents 219-51, and are leading the MPSF offensively and defensively with 18.25 goals scored per game and just 4.25 goals-against per game. Leading the offensive charge so far is freshman Jacob Mercep with 27 goals, just ahead of sophomore Marko Vavic's 26, while seven other Trojans have also hit double digits. Freshman Hannes Daube is on the cusp of that 20-goal club with 19, and a trio of Trojans — juniors Marin Dasic, Danny Leong and Sam Slobodien — have delivered 18 apiece . On the defensive end, USC has utilized four goalies, with freshman Nic Porter in the lead with 38 saves in five appearances. Just behind Porter on the saves chart is freshman Sam Krutonog with 27, sophomore transfer Vaios Vlahotasios with 23 saves and redshirt freshman Matt Moran-Flores with 17. In all, USC has had 16 Trojans score goals to date, with six USC newcomers in that mix. USC has shutout all but two opponents in at least one frame, totalling 19 shutout periods to date.
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. Porter is the third Australian goalie to cap up in the cage for the Trojans, following Olympians Joel Dennerley and James Clark. Dennerley won four NCAA championships at USC (2008-2011) before giving way to Clark for two seasons. Clark, too, anchored the Trojans to NCAA crowns both years he was at USC (2012 & 2013).
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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