USC
UC Irvine
Trojans Move Into NorCal Semis
September 20, 2008 | Men's Water Polo
Sept. 20, 2008
STOCKTON, CALIF. - The No. 2 USC men's water polo team boasted some stubborn defense on the first day of competition at the NorCal Tournament, allowing just two goals in two games to push into tomorrow's semifinals. USC topped Air Force 19-1 to open the tournament, and then beat UC Irvine 13-1 in game two, bumping the Trojans' overall record to 8-0 as they now set up to face Stanford in the semifinals on Sunday at 12 p.m. in Stockton, Calif.
The owners of the past three NorCal Tournament titles, the Trojans kicked off the 2008 tournament with a dominating defensive showing. USC allowed just one goal in each of the two opening games at the tourney, grabbing a 19-1 win over Air Force behind goals from 11 different players. USC goalies Ben Weil and Brett Giery combined forces in the cage, while Devon Borisoff, Kevin May and Matt Sagehorn tacked up three-goal outings in the game. For May, it was the freshman's first Trojan hat trick. And for Giery, the eight-save performance marked his debut in goal as a Trojan.
Against Air Force, USC went ahead 4-0 in the first period and was solidly enjoying an 11-1 lead entering the fourth period. In that final period, however, the Trojan offense continued to click, and unloaded eight goals before the final buzzer to claim a 19-1 win over Air Force.
In USC's next game, the Trojans came up against UC Irvine and again jumped out to a strong lead. The Anteaters got their lone goal of the game in the second period and saw USC ahead 9-1 at halftime. A shutout second half, however, put USC at a 10-1 advantage entering the final period. And three fourth-period goals combined with another shutout frame from Ben Weil got USC to a 13-1 final decision.
Scoring in the UC Irvine win came from many of the same hands that got in on the scoring in game one. J.W. Krumpholz led the way in this one with a hat trick, while Jordan Thompson and Kyle Sterling delivered a pair apiece to held charge the Trojan offense of nine different scorers.
USC 19, Air Force 1
USC 4 - 4 - 3 - 8 -- 19
AF 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 -- 1
SCORING:
USC -- Devon Borisoff 3, Kevin May 3, Matt Sagehorn 3, J.W. Krumpholz 2, Peter Kurzeka 2, Nico Sardo, Shea Buckner, Jovan Vranes, Kyle Sterling, Tom Money, Ryan Cummins.
Air Force -- Bobby Geiger.
SAVES: Ben Weil (USC) 3, Brett Giery (USC) 8, Dave Ostrom (AF) 2, Danny Harold (AF) 4.
USC 13, UC Irvine 1
USC 5 - 4 - 1 - 3 -- 13
UCI 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 -- 1
SCORING:
USC -- J.W. Krumpholz 3, Jordan Thompson 2, Kyle Sterling 2, Matt Sagehorn, Shea Buckner, Anthony Artukovich, Kevin May, Peter Kurzeka, Ryan Cummins.
UC Irvine: Derrik Clair-Williams 1.
SAVES: Joel Dennerley (USC) 6, Ben Weil (USC) 7, Erik Evered (UCI) 5
Players Mentioned
