USC
UC Santa Barbara (Semifinal)
Trojans Face Bruins For SoCal Crown
October 03, 2010 | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 3, 2010
WESTWOOD, CALIF. - The top-ranked USC men's water polo team got the game-winner in the final minute from Jeremy Davie to jump ahead of UC Santa Barbara for a 7-6 win in the semifinals this morning at the SoCal Tournament. That victory puts the undefeated Trojans in line for a potential eighth straight SoCal crown, as USC (14-0) is on its way into the title match against UCLA at 5:20 p.m. today at Spieker Aquatics Center in Westwood.
That sets up a rematch of both the 2009 NCAA championship as well as this season's NorCal Tournament championship game, both of which the Trojans won over UCLA in one-goal decisions.
After No. 6 UC Santa Barbara upended No. 4 Stanford yesterday during group play, the Trojans turned to face the Gauchos this morning in the tournament semifinals. USC jumped ahead 4-1 in the first period of play, but the Trojans were unable to get to the back of the net in the next two frames. USC held a 4-3 lead at halftime before falling behind 5-4 entering the fourth period of play.
USC finally broke its scoring silence in the fourth, as the game locked up 6-6 entering the final minute of play. The Trojans got up on a 6-on-5 during that span, and Jeremy Davie punched in the go-ahead goal with 52 seconds to go to take USC up 7-6. The Trojan defense held strong down the stretch and closed things down on the win for USC, leaving Davie's goal as the game-winner. Davie finished with two goals in the game, as did Mace Rapsey to lead USC's scoring.
2010 SoCal Tournament (Westwood, Calif.)
SEMIFINAL
#1 USC 7, #6 UC Santa Barbara 6
USC 4 - 0 - 0 - 3 = 7
UCSB 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 = 6
SCORING:
USC - Jeremy Davie 2, Mace Rapsey 2, Michael Rosenthal, Brian Boswell, Tobias Preuss.
UCSB - Lazar Komadinic 2, Dylan Baliani 2, Zsombor Vincze 2.
SAVES: Joel Dennerley (USC) 3, Fraser Bunn (UCSB) 12.
Players Mentioned
