University Southern California Trojans
No. 3 USC Takes Aim At NorCal Crown
September 15, 2010 | Men's Water Polo
Sept. 15, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK
USC men's water polo is on the hunt for a tournament title this weekend as the Trojans prepare for a trip to the Bay Area for the competitive NorCal Tournament, held this year in Berkeley, Calif. A winning first day of action could put USC (4-0) up against top-ranked tournament host California in the semifinals in order to earn a place in the title match. But first, USC will have Navy to contend with in its opening game of the tourney. Bracketed with Navy, UC Irvine and Santa Clara, the Trojans face Navy at 10:40 a.m. on Saturday (Sept. 18) before heading into a clash with either UC Irvine or Santa Clara that afternoon -- at 5:20 p.m. if USC gets the morning win over Navy. Sunday's semifinal would be at noon, with the title match at 5:20 p.m. on Sunday preceded by a 4 p.m. third-place match.
RANKINGS
Back-to-back NCAA champ USC has moved up to No. 3 in the nation in this third week of the 2010 season after sitting at No. 4 for the first two weeks. The other three teams in USC's bracket are No. 5 UC Irvine, No. 16 Navy and No. 18 Santa Clara.
NORCAL TOURNEY NOTES
The Northern California Tournament has traditionally offered one of the best early looks at the nation's top teams. This year proves to be the same. Including tournament top-ranked host California, all nine Mountain Pacific Sports Federation teams will be included, along with competitive teams from around the country. Non-California-based powers Air Force and Navy are making the trip to Berkeley, along with UC San Diego, LMU, Santa Clara, UC Davis and Pomona-Pitzer. All told, the top 11 ranked teams in the will be in the mix, with 15 teams ranked in the top-20. Last year, USC finished third in the tournament, falling 5-4 to UCLA in the semifinals and beating California 8-6 in the third-place game. The Trojans had opened with a 13-3 win over Pomona-Pitzer and a 11-4 win over UC Irvine. USC last won the NorCal Tournament championship in 2008.
LAST WEEK
USC continued to click on its second weekend of action. In the Trojans' home opener, USC topped Long Beach State 16-4 with Joel Dennerley and Will Simon splitting time in the cage for a combined 12 saves while 10 different Trojans got to the back of the net on the offensive end. Matt Burton led the way in that one with a career-high four goals, with Jeremy Davie adding a hat trick for the Trojans. The next day, USC went over to Westchester to face No. 8 LMU. It was a tight first half of play, with the Lions taking a 5-4 lead before USC turned the tide, evened it up for halftime, and pitched a second-half shutout to tack up a 10-5 win. For the fourth straight game, the Trojan defense allowed zero goals in the final period of play. Dennerley had 10 saves in a full game in the cage, and Davie notched his third straight hat trick with Peter Kurzeka also tallying three in the match.
ON THE RISE
USC junior Joel Dennerley jumped two places on the USC career saves ladder over the weekend and now has earned his fifth career pick as the MPSF Player of the Week. With a total of 17 saves in six periods played in a winning weekend by the Trojans, Dennerley became the first USC player to earn conference honors this season. Dennerley allowed only two goals while compiling seven saves in the first half of USC's 16-4 win over No. 10 Long Beach State in the Trojans' home opener. The next day, Dennerley tallied 10 saves in a 10-5 win at No. 8 LMU and shut out the Lions through the entire second half. Dennerley has taken over at No. 7 all-time in career saves with his weekend's work, now holding 440.
ON THE BOARD
USC's opening weekend was a chance for the Trojan newcomers to make a statement in their debut. Redshirt freshman Stephen Siri led the charge with hat trick to kick off his Trojan career. Also in their first USC action, Tobias Preuss and Mace Rapsey each added a pair, with fellow newcomers Nikola Vavic and Rex Butler also getting in on the scoring action against Redlands. The following day, freshmen Jeremy Davie, Max Hurst-Mendoza and Connor Virjee all notched their first goals as Trojans in the win over Whittier, while redshirt sophomore goalie Jimmy Friedrich saw his first time in the cage after being sidelined by injuries.
BACK IN ACTION
USC returns three players who boast NCAA title-winning experience. All three juniors have known nothing but national championship runs in their time as Trojans. All-American goalie Joel Dennerley also has fellow All-American Peter Kurzeka and their fellow junior Matt Burton back as the backbone of USC roster. It's a young group, but this year's batch of Trojans have already experience USC's winning tradition. Including junior two-time NCAA champs Burton, Dennerley and Kurzeka, USC has Brian Boswell and Michael Rosenthal returning from the Trojans' latest NCAA visit. Goalie Will Simon and field players Zayne Belal, Billy Evashwick, Mason Hawthorne, Forest Monroe, Jon Leopold and Andrew Reego also saw game action in the 2009 regular season and are back in the water for 2010.
SUPER UNKNOWNS
Opponents will get to know USC's newest Trojans pretty quickly this year. A set of powerful imports are set to make a splash, as Australians Jeremy Davie and Mace Rapsey are joined by Croatian Ivan Kustic and German Tobias Preuss for their first seasons as Trojans. Cem Carak hails from Turkey and is back from a redshirt season last year. Meanwhile, USC has a powerful blend of true and redshirt freshmen welcomed into the fold. Andy Hayes, Tommy Friedrich and Stephen Siri all redshirted the 2009 season to build up power for 2010. That crew will be joined by more true freshmen out of the USA -- Rex Butler, Max Hurst-Mendoza, Zach Lucas, Jack Plaga, Nikola Vavic and Connor Virjee -- to round of the capped-up talent for USC in 2010.
SENIOR SEND-OFF
USC graduated a large group from last year's NCAA championship squad, eight of whom were members of both USC's title-winning rosters. Those departed 2009 seniors with back-to-back NCAA crowns are: Anthony Artukovich, Shea Buckner, J.W. Krumpholz, Justin Rappel, Matt Sagehorn, Nico Sardo, Kyle Sterling and Jordan Thompson.
2009 RECAP
The 2009 Trojans claimed back-to-back national championships for the first time in program history with a 7-6 win over UCLA in last season's NCAA title match. The Trojans also made history as the first team ever to make five straight NCAA final appearances on the way to wrapping up the year as champs with a 26-2 overall record. It was USC's 24th NCAA appearance and fifth national championship. Jovan Vavic was named the National Coach of the Year, and senior J.W. Krumpholz was the National Player of the Year as well as the eventual Cutino Award winner for the second straight year. Eight Trojans earned All-American honors, and 19 different players scored on the year. For the fifth straight year, USC led the nation in team defense (5.5 gapg), while the offense averaged 11.3 gpg. All told, USC outscored its opponents 316-154 in 2009.
