University Southern California Trojans
Men's Water Polo Places Third at MPSF Tourney
June 21, 1999 | Men's Water Polo
November 29, 1998
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - The top-ranked USC men's water polo team finished third at the MPSF Championships, beating UC Irvine, 12-9, in the third-place game on Sunday at Newport Harbor High School.
Next up should be the NCAA Championships on Dec. 4-6, as USC (23-3) is expected to get the at-large bid to the tournament. Stanford, an 11-8 winner over Pepperdine in the tournament championship, earned the automatic bid.
Ivan Babic scored three goals and George Csaszar had three points to lead USC to the win over UCI. The Trojans never trailed and took a 4-1 lead after the first period.
Amazingly, UCI's Ryan Bailey scored eight of his team's nine goals.
In the MPSF's first round, USC beat Long Beach State, 6-5, but then lost to Stanford in the semifinals, 7-6, in overtime.
Should USC and Stanford meet up in the NCAA championship game, the Trojans won three of four contests this season, though all four matches were decided by two goals or less.
