USC
Pomona
No. 1 USC Dunks Two In Saturday Doubleheader
September 30, 2006 | Men's Water Polo
Sept. 30, 2006
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. -- The undefeated and top-ranked USC men's water polo team amped up its winning streak with a successful doubleheader on Saturday at McDonald's Swim Stadium. USC opened the busy afternoon by dropping No. 13 Pepperdine 14-7, avenging the Trojans' lone loss from 2005 -- the last time USC was on the losing end of a match. The win streak grew to 28 games when USC posted a 12-2 win over visiting Pomona-Pitzer to improve the Trojans' overall record to 9-0 on the year.
USC made no mistake about getting out ahead of the Waves in game one of the day. Juan Delgadillo punched in a pair, and J.W. Krumpholz added a third to get the Trojans up 3-0 in the first four minutes of play. The USC defense pestered the Waves to the tune of a dozen steals in the match, four of which came in the first period. In the final minute of the first period, however, Pepperdine went up on a man advantage, and Brett Auer got to the back of the net to get the Waves on the board. Pepperdine would convert on all four of their 6-on-5 opportunities in the half, accounting for all of their goals in the first half. The Trojans, meanwhile, had five different players punch in scores in the second period alone. Krumpholz knocked in his second of the day after gathering up the ball off a field block. Anthony Artukovich struck a minute later with a crosscage attack, and then Artukovich nabbed a steal that set USC off on a counterattack. With a Pepperdine exclusion on the counter, Artukovich hit Delgadillo, who made it a 6-2 Trojans lead. Arjan Ligtenberg pushed USC up 7-2 by beating out the shot clock midway through the period. Pepperdine finished off its third power play of the game to make it 7-3, but the Trojans tallied another goal 30 seconds later. Pavol Valovic traded passes with Delgadillo and then rocketed in a nearside strike for an 8-3 USC lead. One more Pepperdine 6-on-5 left it at 8-4 at the half.
Valovic won his third sprint of the game to earn the Trojans the first attack of the second half. USC didn't convert, but it still remained in complete control during the period. Tommy Corcoran laced in a score at the 5:30 mark to make it 9-4 USC, and then USC interrupted the Pepperdine offense with two more steals. Gabor Sarusi then earned himself a five-meter penalty shot and finished it off to get USC ahead 10-4. The Trojan defense -- with Adam Shilling manning the cage -- shut down the Waves, clamping down on their next 6-on-5 chance with a field block and a takeaway at set. Shilling put a stop to a Pepperdine lob attempt off a counterattack, and then Thomas Hale sliced in a crosscage score on a Trojan 6-on-5 to get USC to an 11-4 lead entering the fourth period.
USC and Pepperdine stayed in stride scoring-wise in the fourth. Hale tallied his second of the day, and the Trojans also got scores from Ligtenberg and Stephen Lacy in the period. Lacy's goal iced the Trojans' final 6-on-5 opportunity of the game to close out the scoring for USC in the win.
There wasn't much of a break for the Trojans after the Pepperdine win, as USC got right back to business when Pomona-Pitzer hit the pool. Once again, USC scored the first three goals of the game, and once again the Trojans held their opponents' scoreless in the third period. In this game, however, the USC defense would silence their opponents in the first, third and fourth periods en route to their 28th straight victory and ninth of 2006. Benjamin Weil held court in goal for the Trojans, picking up a career-high nine saves while allowing just two goals in the second period. Ronnie Giery stepped in to close out the match in the cage later in the fourth period.
Two Trojan newcomers each posted hat tricks in the 12-2 win over the Sagehens. Freshman Krumpholz was the first to hit the three-goal mark in the game, tallying two in the first period and another top open the second half. All three scores came off of passes from senior Pavol Valovic. Junior transfer Drew Vyn also tallied three goals in the win. Two of those came in the fourth period, as Vyn's score jacked the Trojans up to a 10-2 lead as USC held the Sagehens scoreless in the second half. Jordan Thompson posted his first multiple-goal game for USC when he pumped in his second goal with just 14 seconds left in the game off a swift pass from Nico Sardo. Thomas Hale, Matt Norris, Matt Sagehorn and Justin Rappel all also scored for USC.
The top-ranked Trojans return to action next week with a 5 p.m. game against UC Santa Barbara on Friday (Oct. 6). USC then faces Pacific at 10 a.m. on Saturday (Oct. 7). Both games will be held at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
No. 1 USC 14, No. 13 Pepperdine 7
PEP 1 - 3 - 0 - 3 -- 7
USC 3 - 5 - 3 - 3 -- 14
SCORING:
USC -- Juan Delgadillo 3, J.W. Krumpholz 2, Arjan Ligtenberg 2, Thomas Hale 2, Anthony Artukovich, Pavol Valovic, Tommy Corcoran, Gabor Sarusi, Stephen Lacy.
PEP -- Brett Auer 2, JP MacDonnell 2, Jeff Willis, Doug Mann, Jason Langten.
SAVES:
Adam Shilling (USC) 5, Travis Stachowski (PEP) 4, Michael Lee (PEP) 0.
No. 1 USC 12, Pomona-Pitzer 2
POM 0 - 2 - 0 - 0 -- 2
USC 3 - 2 - 3 - 4 -- 12
SCORING:
USC -- Drew Vyn 3, J.W. Krumpholz 3, Jordan Thompson 2, Thomas Hale, Matt Norris, Matt Sagehorn, Justin Rappel.
POM -- David Mock, Tim Brown.
SAVES:
Ben Weil (USC) 9, Ronnie Giery (USC) 0, Grant Cooper (POM) 6.
