USC
UCLA (Semifinal)
Trojans Top UCLA 10-5 To Reach MPSF Title Match
November 27, 2010 | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 27, 2010
PALO ALTO, CALIF. - The No. 2 seeded USC men's water polo team drummed up a powerful 10-5 win over rival UCLA to punch a ticket to the MPSF title match. Playing in the MPSF Tournament semifinals against the No. 3 seeded Bruins, the Trojans roared ahead and remained strong in claiming their fifth straight victory over UCLA and largest margin of victory over the Bruins since 1994. USC now sets up to face host Stanford in tomorrow's championship game as the Trojans are looking for their seventh MPSF championship to go along with an automatic berth in the coming NCAA Tournament. The two-time defending national champs are now 25-2 overall as they head into tomorrow's 3 p.m. title match against the No. 4 seeded Cardinal at Avery Aquatic Center.
All business in the first frame, the Trojans chugged ahead 5-1 to create some crucial distance between themselves and the Bruins. Nikola Vavic scored twice during a five-goal surge by USC to climb ahead 7-1 at halftime, as the Trojan defense shut out the Bruins in the second frame to put UCLA out of reach. Even a silent scoring effort by the Trojans in the third period of play wasn't enough to put a damper on USC's momentum to the finish line. UCLA managed a pair of goals in the third to make it 7-3 entering the fourth, only to have the Trojans plug in three more goals - including a searing backhand from Jeremy Davie -- to outmatch two from the Bruins as USC wrapped up the 10-5 win. Davie and Vavic both knocked in their third goals of the day during the final period in pushing USC to an insurmountable 10-4 lead with a minute and a half remaining.
USC Joel Dennerley went the distance in the cage for the Trojans, racking up another 10-save outing, including his 600th career save on his first stop of the day. Vavic and Davie's three-goal efforts were backed up by a pair from Peter Kurzeka and one wach from Brian Boswell and Mace Rapsey on the offensive end, as the Trojans generated their biggest win over UCLA since 1994.
There's more work ahead for the Trojans, as they now turn to face one of only two teams to have beaten them this season. Stanford managed a 5-3 win over USC back in early October when the teams faced in Palo Alto in their only other meeting of the year. The Cardinal knocked off top-seeded and top-ranked California 8-6 in their semifinal game today to join the Trojans within reach of the automatic slot in the 2010 NCAA Championship tournament, to be held in Berkeley from Dec. 4-5.
2010 MPSF TOURNAMENT (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Semifinal - Saturday, Nov. 27
[2] USC 10, [3] UCLA 5
USC 5 - 2 - 0 - 3 = 10
UCLA 1 - 0 - 2 - 2 = 5
SCORING:
USC - Jeremy Davie 3, Nikola Vavic 3, Peter Kurzeka 2, Brian Boswell, Mace Rapsey.
UCLA - Murphy 2, Hennessy, Kuga, White
SAVES: Joel Dennerley (USC) 10, James Hartshorne (UCLA) 4.
Players Mentioned
