University Southern California Trojans
No. 4 USC Sets Up For Saturday Home Opener
September 08, 2010 | Men's Water Polo
Sept. 8, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK
USC men's water polo delves deeper into 2010 action this weekend as the Trojans set up for their home opener against Long Beach State before a jaunt over to Loyola Marymount. USC (2-0) sees their first competition of the year at McDonald's Swim Stadium when the Trojans host the 49ers (2-0) in a 3 p.m. game on Saturday (Sept. 11). The USC Alumni Game will be held after that match, with Trojan greats coming back to the pool for action at 5 p.m. The following day, USC will gas up for a trip to Westchester to face LMU (3-1) at 1 p.m. on Sunday (Sept. 12) to continue early-season nonconference play.
RANKINGS
Back-to-back NCAA champ USC is still slated at No. 4 in the nation in the second week of the 2010 season. Long Beach State enters the week at No. 10 in the national poll, and LMU is No. 8.
SCOUTING LBSU
The 49ers are 2-0 after beating Whittier 22-8 and Fresno Pacific 20-7 last weekend at the UCI Invitational. Taylor Clute and Nick Rascon both tallied eight goals apiece over the weekend for Long Beach State, with Matthew Kubeck and Robert Poynton splitting time in goal for a combined 15 saves. The 49ers went 9-12 overall last season, finishing 1-7 in MPSF play. USC is 56-15 all-time against LBSU, having won the past 17 games, last claiming a 9-4 win on Oct. 17, 2009 at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
SCOUTING LMU
The Lions are 3-1 overall after falling to Pacific 9-7 in their season opener before beating UC San Diego 7-3, Air Force 10-3 and La Verne 21-3 during the Triton Invitational last weekend. LMU returns top scorers Edgaras Asajavicius and Tibor Forai as well as 2009 NCAA All-Tournament Team goalie Andy Stevens from last year's team, which went 19-9 overall and was a perfect 14-0 in the WWPA. USC is 17-0 all-time against LMU, last claiming an 11-4 win on Oct. 24, 2009 at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
LAST WEEK
USC racked up big numbers in its first week of action. The Trojans tallied 23 goals in their season opener against Redlands and then blasted Whittier with 30 goals on day two of the UCI Invitational. Meanwhile, the USC defense allowed only five goals through across the two games. A whopping 18 different Trojans scored over the weekend -- one shy of the total scorers tallied in the entire 2009 season. Michael Rosenthal set the season high with four goals in the opener vs. Redlands, and seven other players would notch hat tricks over the weekend. In goal, Joel Dennerley split time with Will Simon and Jimmy Friedrich to anchor the USC defense.
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.
