University Southern California Trojans
No. 2 USC Wins So-Cal Tournament
September 19, 2004 | Men's Water Polo
Sept. 19, 2004
LOS ANGELES -- Sophomore goalie Don Ricci (Sacramento/Jesuit HS) registered 12 saves and junior two-meter defender Juraj Zatovic (Novaky, Slovakia) scored a team-high four goals Sunday as the No. 2 USC Trojans defeated the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal, 8-6, to win the 2004 So-Cal Men's Water Polo Tournament championship. The match, held at McDonald's Swim Stadium, was a rematch of last year's national championship where the Trojans defeated the Cardinal, 9-7, in overtime to win the title.
Both teams battled to a 3-3 tie at halftime before Stanford held at 6-4 lead late in the third quarter. A Stanford ejection set up a power play goal by USC freshman Jordan Van Norman, followed by a Zatovic goal with 44 seconds left to tie the match at six apiece.
In the fourth period, Zatovic scored two more goals as the Trojan defense held the Cardinal scoreless. USC kept Stanford senior and 2003 Peter J. Cutino Award winner Tony Azevedo off the scoreboard despite five shots.
In earlier action, Brian Bacharach scored with 1:18 remaining in the fourth period as No. 4 Cal defeated No. 3 UCLA, 10-9, in the third-place match. No. 5 UC Irvine defeated No. 6 Pepperdine, 10-5, to take fifth place in the tournament.
Here are results from Sunday's action:
Saturday (Sept. 18) at USC
USC 12, Air Force 1
UC Santa Barbara 6, Loyola Marymount 5
Cal 19, UC Davis 7
UC Irvine 13, Pacific 4
Loyola Marymount 11, Air Force 10
USC 12, UC Santa Barbara 6
UC Davis 8, Pacific 7
Cal 7, UC Irvine 6
Saturday (Sept. 18) at Commerce
UC San Diego 10, Long Beach State 9
Pepperdine 10, CBU 9
Stanford 13, Long Beach State 3
UCLA 11, Pepperdine 4
Stanford 16, UC San Diego 5
UCLA 17, CBU 5
Sunday (Sept. 19) at Commerce
Loyola Marymount 6, UC Davis 4 (Game 25)
Long Beach State 9, CBU 6 (Game 26)
UC Davis 12, CBU 11 - OT (11th place match)
Loyola Marymount 8, Long Beach State 7 - OT (9th place match)
Sunday (Sept. 19) at USC
UC Irvine 7, UC Santa Barbara 3 (Game 15)
Pepperdine 8, UC San Diego 6 - OT (Game 16)
USC 11, Cal 6 (Game 17)
Stanford 8, UCLA 7 (semifinals-Game 18)
Pacific 9, Air Force 7(13th place match)
UC San Diego 7, UC Santa Barbara 6 (7th place match)
UC Irvine 10, Pepperdine 5 (5th place match)
Cal 10, UCLA 9 (3rd place match)
USC 8, Stanford 6 (1st place match)
Game #15 #5 UC Irvine (6-2) 4-0-2-1---7 #10 UC Santa Barbara (8-3) 1-0-2-0---3
UCI Goals: Rick Merlo 2, Dreason Barry 2, Tim Hutten, Colin Mello, David Foley
UCSB Goals: Ross Sinclair 2, Marc Morimoto
UCI Saves: Joe Wynne 7
UCSB Saves: Jon Bonafede 10
Game #25 (Commerce Pool) #16 UC Davis (3-5) 0-0-2-2---4 #11 Loyola Marymount (6-2) 1-1-3-1---6
UCD Goals: Michael Long, David Welch, Patrick Jacobsen, Tom Jay
LMU Goals: Endre Rex-Kiss 2, Ben Easton 2, Tyler Swanson, Brian McShane
UCD Saves: Eric Acevedo 0
LMU Saves: Ian Elliott 3
Game #16 #6 Pepperdine (4-2) 2-1-1-0-2-0---8 #12 UC San Diego (7-4) 1-2-1-2-0-0---6
Pepp Goals: Josh Acosta 4, Matt Digges 2, Adam Hewko 2
UCSD Goals: Jesse Casellini 3, Chris Finegold, Adnan Jerkovic, Simon Schafer
Pepp Saves: Robbie Miller 8
UCSD Saves: Colin McElroy 11
Game #26 (Commerce Pool) #19 CBU (4-6) 2-1-2-1---6 #7 Long Beach State (4-3) 2-3-2-2---9
CBU Goals: Goran Milic 3, Filip Lugovic, Ryan Steiger, Brandon Jung
LBSU Goals: Reid Torres 3, Brad Scoles, Brett McCleave, John Filipponi, Ian Wenger, Satoshi Sakata, Eric Markle
CBU Saves: Jon Miller 6
LBSU Saves: Thomas Onyshko 8
Game #17 (Semifinal #1) #4 Cal (7-1) 2-0-2-2---6 #2 USC (5-0) 2-2-2-5---11
Cal Goals: Dan Werner 2, Jeff Tyrrell, Mike Hayes, John Mann, Brian Kinsel
USC Goals: Juraj Zatovic 4, Jordan Van Norman 2, Nick Andrejich 2, Garrett Gentry, Thomas Hale, Juan Delgadillo
Cal Saves: Nate Bennett 7
USC Saves: Don Ricci 15 (4 quarters), Justin McCain 1 (1 quarter)
Don Ricci registered 15 saves while Juraj Zatovic scored a team-high four goals as No. 2 USC advanced to the So-Cal Tournament championship with an 11-6 win against No. 4 Cal. Zatovic's first goal at 1:12 of the second quarter put the Trojans ahead for good as USC scored five times in the fourth quarter. USC handed Cal its first loss of the 2004 season.
Game #18 (Semifinal #2) #3 UCLA (4-1) 2-0-3-2---7 #1 Stanford (5-0) 2-2-3-1---8
UCLA Goals: Josh Hewko 4, Brett Ormsby, Marco Santos, Albert Garcia
Stanford Goals: Greg Crum 3, Tony Azevedo 2, Tyler Drake, Peter Varellas, Thomas Hopkins
UCLA Saves: Joseph Axelrad 6
Stanford Saves: Chad Taylor 9
Greg Crum scored a team-high three goals, including the go-ahead goal in the second period, as the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal defeated the No. 3 UCLA Bruins, 8-7, to advance to the 2004 So-Cal Tournament championship. Chad Taylor made nine saves in goal for the Cardinal, which will face No. 2 USC in the championship match. Josh Hewko scored four goals for the Bruins. His goal at 0:37 of the fourth period cut the Stanford lead to 7-6, but Crum added another goal to aid in the victory.
Game #19 (13th place game) #15 Pacific (1-4) 1-3-3-2---9 #18 Air Force (1-8) 1-2-3-1---7
Pacific Goals: Julian Gonzalez 2, Matt Turnbull 2, Adam Zobler 2, Alex Smith-Jones, Clint McLaughlin, Matt Mitchell
Air Force Goals: Murphey Morgan 3, Justin Perkins 2, Justin Berry, Matt Herrera
Pacific Saves: Nate Bennett 7
Air Force Saves: Jared Jones 7
Game #27 (11th place game-Commerce Pool) #19 CBU (4-7) 0-4-4-3-0-0---11 #16 UC Davis (4-5) 1-2-4-4-1-0---12
CBU Goals: Goran Milic 5, Leonardo Laterza 2, Darren Netzley 2, Aaron Abellano, Brandon Jung
UCD Goals: Kevin Bacharach 3, David Welch 3, Tom Jay 2, Patrick Jacobson, Jesse Tweed, Mark Miles, Michael Long
CBU Saves: Jon Miller 10
UCD Saves: Erik Acevedo 8
Note: Kevin Bacharach (UC Davis) scores only goal in first overtime period (0:34 into the first OT).
Game #28 (9th place game-Commerce Pool) #7 Long Beach State (4-4) 1-1-4-0-0-1---7 #11 Loyola Marymount (7-2) 1-2-1-2-1-1---8
LBSU Goals: Jay Gerardi 2, Blake Bartek, Stefan Ludecke, Brad Scoles, John Foster, Reid Tomassi
LMU Goals: Endre Rex-Kiss 4, Sean Wimer 2, Cutberto Hernandez, Brian McShane
LBSU Saves: Thomas Onyshko 6
LMU Saves: Ian Elliott 8
Note: Endre Rex-Kiss (LMU) scores a goal in first and second OT periods.
Game #20 (7th place game) #12 UC San Diego (8-4) 1-1-2-3---7 #10 UC Santa Barbara (8-4) 2-2-2-0---6
UCSD Goals: Joe Woodring 2, Matthew Budnick 2, Chris Eichholz, Simon Schafer, Chris Finegold
UCSB Goals: Brian Alexander 3, Andrew Schoneberger 2, Matt Dale
UCSD Saves: Colin McElroy 3
UCSB Saves: Jon Bonafede 8
Game #21 (5th place game) #6 Pepperdine (4-3) 0-1-2-2---5 #5 UC Irvine (7-2) 4-0-4-2---10
Pepperdine Goals: Matt MacDonnell 3, Doug Mann, Matt Digges
UCI Goals: Dreason Barry 3, Rick Merlo 3, Colin Mello 2, Dan Noon, Chris Peters
Pepperdine Saves: Robbie Miller 3
UCI Saves: Joe Wynne 10
Game #22 (3rd place game) #4 Cal (8-1) 2-3-3-2---10 #3 UCLA (4-2) 3-1-4-1---9
Cal Goals: Michael Sharf 3, Brian Bacharach 2, Marty Matthies 2, Jeff Tyrrell, John Mann, Adam Haley
UCLA Goals: Brett Ormsby 4, Josh Hewko 2, Ted Peck 2, Matt Jacobs
Cal Saves: Nate Bennett 8
UCLA Saves: Joseph Axelrad 8
Brian Bacharach scored the game-winning goal with 1:18 remaining as the No. 4 Cal Golden Bears defeated the No. 3 UCLA Bruins. With the match tied 8-8 after three periods, the Bruins took the lead on a Josh Hewko goal with 4:24 remaining. After an ejection called against UCLA, Michael Sharf completed a personal hat trick with a power play goal with 2:12 left to tie the game at 9-9.
Game #23 (1st place game) #1 Stanford (5-1) 1-2-3-0---6 #2 USC (6-0) 2-1-3-2---8
Stanford Goals: Thomas Hopkins 3, Peter Varellas 2, J.J. Garton
USC Goals: Juraj Zatovic 4, Thomas Hale, Juan Delgadillo, James Shin, Jordan Van Norman
Stanford Saves: Robbie Miller 3
USC Saves: Don Ricci 12
