University Southern California Trojans
No. 1 USC Continues Road Run At Long Beach State
September 10, 2009 | Men's Water Polo
Sept. 10, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK: USC gets another look at an MPSF opponent this weekend with a trip down the road to Long Beach. The No. 1 Trojans (4-0) pay a visit to No. 9 Long Beach State (0-0) for a 12 p.m. nonconference game against the 49ers on Saturday (Sept. 12).
RANKINGS: USC continues its pole position on the national ladder, remaining in that No. 1 spot for the second week of the 2009 season. Long Beach State is No. 9 as the 49ers enter their season opener against the Trojans.
SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE: The 49ers are ranked No. 9 in the nation as they enter their first game of the season in this weekend's game against the Trojans. Head coach Gavin Arroyo welcomes back 12 letterwinners and five starters including Third Team All-MPSF goalie Dereck Weibe-Bailey and last year's top scorer Jeff Greenwood. The 49ers went 14-18 overall last season and were 2-8 in MPSF play. USC is 54-14 all-time against Long Beach State, having won the past 15 games including a 12-7 MPSF win last season in Long Beach.
LAST WEEK: Top-ranked USC swept through the Triton Invitational last week to open up 2009 with a 4-0 record — adding to the 29-0 streak it posted last season. Fourteen different players scored in the championship game for USC as the Trojans took the title with a commanding 16-5 win over #7 UC Santa Barbara. USC had topped #6 LMU 11-6 in the morning game to get into the final. Opening day for USC saw the Trojans beat Pomona-Pitzer 16-2 and #19 Air Force 16-5. In all, 16 players scored for USC over the weekend, including the first career goals for redshirt freshmen Zayne Belal, Brian Boswell, Jon Leopold, Forest Monroe and Michael Rosenthal.
HOT START: Sophomore Peter Kurzeka grabbed his first career honor as an MPSF Player of the Week after leading USC in scoring with eight goals last weekend as the Trojans successfully defended their title at the Triton Invitational. Kurzeka served up three multiple-goal games at the tournament, including two goals in the championship win over #7 UC Santa Barbara. He also had two goals vs. #6 LMU to help push USC into the final, making it a four-goal day on the last day of competition in San Diego. On day one, he had one goal vs. Pomona-Pitzer and a hat trick against #19 Air Force.
CENTURY CLUB AND CLIMBING: USC seniors J.W. Krumpholz and Matt Sagehorn have not only chiseled their place in USC history as national champions and All-Americans, the two Trojans also have passed the century mark in career goals. Krumpholz now holds 107 career goals, just ahead of Sagehorn's 105, as both players recently leapt over current assistant coach Marko Pintaric's career total of 103.
NUMBERS GAME: Not only did the Trojans tack up big digits in 2008 — a perfect 29-0 record; head coach Jovan Vavic's 300th career victory; and USC's fourth NCAA Championship trophy — the numbers rolling in for the 2009 season have the Trojans leveling their collective gaze on a feat never before achieved by the program: back-to-back national championships. The formula for success is there. Six starters return from last year's championship team. Five of them are All-Americans. Four were NCAA All-Tournament Team selections. Almost 80 percent of last season's scoring production is back. Both the MPSF Player of the Year and the Newcomer of the Year return to the water. And Coach of the Year Jovan Vavic is back on the deck to lead them.
SENIOR STANDOUTS: USC's vaunted senior class includes an overpowering unit of six players who entered as freshmen in 2006 and have experienced only NCAA and MPSF finals since coming to Troy. J.W. Krumpholz may headline the group as the 2008 Peter J. Cutino Award winner, but fellow seniors Anthony Artukovich, Justin Rappel, Matt Sagehorn, Nico Sardo and Jordan Thompson have also been a key part of that winning formula. The addition of transfer Shea Buckner added another depth charge to that class, rounding out arguably the most talented set of seniors ever to cap up at Troy. Already this season, the group has generated over half USC's scoring with a combined 31 goals between the seven senior field players.
DEFENSE IS BEST: While the Trojans do return almost 80 percent of last year's scoring production, the name of the game for USC teams has always been defense. That, by the way, is also in very, very good shape for 2009. True, there's some size missing with the graduation of All-Americans Arjan Ligtenberg and Jovan Vranes. But Buckner is an agile and powerful presence on defense, and junior Devon Borisoff and sophomore Matt Burton also bring their deft defense back to the hole along with newcomer Zayne Belal. And don't forget, USC goalie Joel Dennerley still has his wall up in the cage. The All-American and MPSF Newcomer of the Year as a freshman last season is all lined up to anchor that still-dominant Trojan defense. Senior Brett Giery will also make a stand in goal for the Trojans, joined in the USC goalkeeping corps by Kevin Coyne, Jimmy Friedrich and Will Simon. Right now, the Trojan defense has allowed just 18 goals in four games for a 4.5 goals-against average.
OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT: Seniors Rappel, Sagehorn, Buckner and Krumpholz, junior Kyle Sterling and sophomore Peter Kurzeka all scored at least 20 goals for the Trojans in 2008, with similarly powerful production in the cards for that group once again. Krumpholz and fellow senior Jordan Thompson are set up to tag-team at two-meters along with new addition Brian Boswell, while Buckner, Rappel, Sagehorn, Sterling and Kurzeka open up the field as sharpshooters on the perimeter side-by-side with experienced senior drivers Artukovich and Sardo, speedy junior Borisoff and newer additions Kyle Wootten and Michael Rosenthal.
HOME POOL ADVANTAGE: USC finished off the 2008 home season holding a 33-game win streak in the home waters of McDonald's Swim Stadium, having gone undefeated at home for four straight seasons.
2008 RECAP: The 2008 Trojans blasted their way to an undefeated 29-0 season and USC's fourth NCAA championship last season. USC also captured back-to-back MPSF championships and the Trojans' sixth overall MPSF crown en route to head coach Jovan Vavic's seventh MPSF Coach of the Year award and sixth National Coach of the Year honors. The Trojans finished out the program's first undefeated overall year since a 5-0 final record in 1944. USC is the first team in 16 years to go undefeated through an entire season. For the fourth consecutive season, USC led the nation in team defense (4.76 gapg), while the offense saw 20 different players score on the year, averaging a total of 11.7 gpg. All told, USC outscored its opponents 340-138 in 2008. Seven Trojans were named All-Americans, including 2008 Cutino Award winner J.W. Krumpholz.
