University Southern California Trojans
Saturday, November 11
Los Angeles, CA
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Photo by: John McGillen
No. 2 Trojans Tangle With No. 4 Bruins In Westwood In Regular-Season Finale
November 08, 2017 | Men's Water Polo, Features
USC takes on crosstown rival UCLA at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Center.
THIS WEEK
The No. 2 Trojans wrap the regular season with a rivalry matchup, heading across town to top of MPSF play with a visit to No. 4 UCLA. It's an opportunity for the Trojans to avenge a loss to the Bruins taken back in September. This Saturday (Nov. 11), USC (22-2, 1-1 MPSF) will tangle with host UCLA (17-3, 0-2) at 1 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Center in Westwood in a key matchup with MPSF Tournament seeding and NCAA berth implications. The game will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Los Angeles, with Adam Krikorian and Jim Watson on the call.
RANKINGS
USC started its 2017 journey holding strong at No. 2 in the preseason national rankings. The Trojans wrapped 2016 at No. 2 in the land after reaching the NCAA final for the 12th consecutive season. After standing at No. 2 for the first five weeks of 2017 competition, USC climbed to No. 1 in the nation on Oct. 4. The Trojans have dropped out of the top spot this week, ranking No. 2 in the latest national poll (released Nov. 8).
SCOUTING UCLA
The No. 4 Bruins are 17-3 overall and 0-2 in MPSF play after a 7-5 MPSF loss to Stanford and a 14-6 win at San José State last weekend. Nicolas Saveljic leads UCLA in scoring with 37 goals. Goalie Alex Wolf averages 10.6 saves and 6.9 goals-against per game. USC is 67-55-1 all-time against the Bruins in a series dating back to 1979. UCLA won this year's first meeting with a 13-11 decision in the 2017 Mountain Pacific Invitational title match at USC. Last year, the Trojans beat the Bruins 8-7 during MPSF play at USC and 9-6 in the 2016 MPSF Tournament championship game in Berkeley. USC's last win over UCLA in Westwood was a 10-6 victory in the semifinals of the 2014 SoCal Tournament.
LAST WEEK
USC wound up with a road split last weekend, taking a 6-3 loss in Berkeley to No. 2 California and then rebounding with an 11-7 win over No. 5 Pacific in Stockton. USC opened up in control against the Golden Bears, thanks in part to five first-frame saves by senior goalie McQuin Baron to render Cal scoreless. Senior captain James Walters showed relentless effort on the offensive end, firing off a shot, finishing off a rebound to net a 1-0 lead for the Trojans at 2:25 in the first. In the second period, however, USC's shots were frustratingly off the mark or within reach of Cal's goalie, while the Golden Bears were able to solve the Trojan defense at the other end. Cal leveled it early on with a blast just over a minute into the second, then took the lead and added to it with back-to-back goals. That left USC in a 3-1 hole at halftime, giving the Trojans some work to do in the second half. USC was able to make adjustments in the third period, with sophomore Matt Maier rifling in a strike from the top to make it a one-goal game. Two more Baron saves would follow, and then it was junior Zach D'Sa who delivered the equalizer when he ripped in a shot that had too much heat on it for the Cal goalie to stop solidly, and the ball trickled across the goal line to make it 3-3 midway through the third. Cal, however, would skid one in in the final seconds of the frame, taking a 4-3 lead with 12 ticks remaining in the third. In the fourth, USC was unable to crack the Cal defense. Cal converted on a 6-on-5 with Baron excluded for the possession, going up 5-3 in the opening minute of the fourth. USC kept firing, but to no avail, while Cal took advantage of a pressing USC defense that saw Baron out of the cage, sailing in the long ball with the goal empty in the final minute for a 6-3 scoreline that would hold down the stretch. The next day in Stockton, USC got back in winning mode with a balanced effort. The Trojans scored the first four goals of the game and shut out the Tigers in the second period to establish control. Senior goalie McQuin Baron notched his 1,000th career save with his first of 16 stops in the win, while eight different Trojans got on the scoresheet to lift USC to 22-2 overall on the year.
RECORD-BREAKING BARON
On Sept. 16 in USC's first-ever meeting with MIT, senior goalie McQuin Baron broke USC's all-time career saves record with his fifth save of the game. That notched Baron's 856th save to edge out previous leader Joel Dennerley, who had set the USC record during his senior season on Sept. 18, 2011 — almost exactly six years earlier. Baron already held the USC record for single-season saves, set his freshman year with 288 saves collected in 2014. Now with 1,015 career saves to his name, Baron has become just the second MPSF goalie to break the 1,000-save barrier in his career. As he continues to set his sights on anchoring the Trojans to a national championship, Baron also is hot on the trail of Pacific's Alex Malkis, who holds the MPSF record with 1,057 career saves from 2010-13.
CLIMB ON
While McQuin Baron tops the saves leaderboard at USC with his 1,015 career stops, a set of All-American senior sharpshooters are charging up the scoring charts. Blake Edwards has climbed to No. 12 all-time with 149 career goals — just two goals away from breaking into the all-time top-10. He's followed by Grant Stein at No. 15 with 140. Just steps behind are Matteo Morelli at No. 16 with 139 goals and Lachlan Edwards at No. 20 in USC history with 133. Fellow senior James Walters, meanwhile, has built his career count up to 90 goals, putting him in striking distance of the century mark as a Trojan.
ALL-AMERICAN EDGE
With eight All-Americans back in the water for 2017, USC head coach Jovan Vavic has more All-American talent than he has room for in his starting lineup. In that core group of decorated All-Americans, seven are seniors. Two of them are repeat team captains — James Walters and returning top scorer Blake Edwards — both two-time All-Americans. One is Cutino Award winner McQuin Baron, who will soon be taking over as USC's all-time saves leader. Three more Trojan All-Americans — Matteo Morelli, Lachlan Edwards and Grant Stein — accumulated over 100 combined goals last year. The seventh — standing out as the brains of the group — is NCAA Elite 90 Award winner Mihajlo Milicevic, who stars as a stingy defender for the Trojan cause. The only first-time All-American in the crew is on his way in to his second season at USC, as sophomore Matt Maier returns to the pool as the 2016 MPSF Newcomer of the Year.Â
BY THE NUMBERS
Now 24 games deep into 2017, the Trojans have displayed widespread scoring ability. Twenty-one Trojans scored on USC's first day of action — a doubleheader at the UCLA Mini Invitational. Since then, freshman Marko Vavic now stands as the most prolific Trojan to date with 41 goals, followed by senior Blake Edwards with 39, senior Grant Stein with 30 and senior Matt Morelli with 29. Defensively, three goalies have capped up in the cage. McQuin Baron has appeared in 23 games, with double-digit saves in 10 games. He's averaging 10.7 saves and 5.35 goals-against per game. Will Rubschlager and Simon Wu have shared time in backup roles to Baron, combining for 45 saves. In all, USC has outscored opponents 378-135. As a team, USC ranks No. 1 in the MPSF in offense (15.75 gpg) and No. 2 in defense (5.63 gapg).
DEPTH CHARGE
As valuable as USC's sizeable senior class is, Jovan Vavic has his eyes on a few other returners as linchpins in this season's efforts. Now sophomores, Olympian Thomas Dunstan, MPSF Newcomer of the Year Matt Maier and FINA Junior World Championship silver medalist Marin Dasic are even more prepared to be impact players for the Trojans. Junior Zach D'Sa and redshirt sophomore Daniel Leong both had breakout seasons last year and are primed for major playing time in 2017. Redshirt junior Tim Leong has also maneuvered his way into an increased role, while redshirt sophomore Sam Slobodien, too, made major strides last season and during the summer, lining himself up for extra duty at the two-meter mark along with fellow centers Maier, James Walters and Lachlan Edwards. In all, the Trojans return 90 percent of their scoring production from last season as well as their entire goalkeeping corps.Â
NEW CREW
Among the talented Trojan youth movement, Vavic taps redshirt freshmen Luke Wyatt, Chas Hornecker and Luka Karaman and true freshmen Marko Vavic and Christian Hockenbury as the brightest stars who are seeing the benefits of their hard work and skills developed in the run-up to this 2017 campaign. At 6-foot-6 and with U.S. National Team experience, Vavic stands to be a quick and powerful fit into his father's gameplan. Marko is the third of head coach Jovan Vavic's children to cap up at USC, following in the footsteps of older brother Nikola and sister Monica, who won a combined five NCAA Championships as Trojans.
OPENING DAY
Twenty-one Trojans got on the scoresheets in USC's season-opening action at the UCLA Mini Invitational. Fifteen Trojans logged goals in each game as USC posted a 27-3 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps followed by a 24-3 win over Pomona-Pitzer. Along the way, five Trojans — Marko Vavic, Troy Furniss, Christian Emerson, Christian Hockenbury and Chas Hornecker — registered their first career goals at USC. Â
TROJAN TRAVELS
In July, the Trojans took a trip through international waters, soaking up some sun while splashing down in seas, pools and rivers across France, Italy, Croatia and Montenegro. The Trojans set up camp in Nice (France), Recco (Italy), Split (Croatia) and Herceg Novi (Montenegro) while scrimmaging local teams and training for the upcoming 2017 season back in the USA. That European adventure brought the entire USC squad together as a team, offering up invaluable opportunities to gel in the water and out. In fact, the last three USC teams to take a similar summer training trip to Europe came back to the USA and won the national championship that same year. It's a theme that bodes well for the 2017 Trojans, who boast a senior class that is 13 Trojans strong and who have 11 redshirt freshmen and newcomers lined up for their first official action this season.
AND NOW, THIS
Now in his 23rd year at the helm of the USC water polo program, Jovan Vavic has guided the Trojans to the NCAA title match every season for the past 12 years. He's captured seven championships during that stretch. Last season, USC manufactured a 24-2 overall record, losing just one road game during the regular season, winning the MPSF Championship and then falling in a frustrating NCAA final that went to overtime in its opponent's home pool. This year, the Trojans are lined up as host of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, set for Dec. 2-3 at USC's own Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The last time the Trojans hosted the national championship, they capped it off by hoisting the 2012 championship trophy. This year, USC aims to once again successfully defend the Trojans' home waters while adding a 10th NCAA trophy to the men's collection of championships.Â
MOUNTAIN PACIFIC INVITATIONAL RECAP
USC scored the first seven goals to keep the Trojans in the driver's seat in the first game of the day at the 2017 Mountain Pacific Invitational at Uytengsu Aquatics Center. Twelve Trojans scored in the win, while three USC goalies logged time in the cage to help notch an 18-9 win over San José State. The next day, USC shrugged off a three-goal deficit in the quarterfinals and a two-goal hole in the semis to claim two tight comeback wins. The Trojans had to get down to business for a fourth-quarter comeback to beat No. 10 UC Irvine 10-9 in the morning's quarterfinals. That set up a rematch with No. 3 Stanford in the evening's semifinals, where USC showed it still had some fight left to make a late move to beat the Cardinal 11-10. The Anteaters were up 9-6 on the Trojans entering the final eight minutes of regulation. After McQuin Baron settled in a made a key power play save, Blake Edwards earned a 5-meter penalty shot that Matteo Morelli promptly deposited into the back of the net to make it 9-7 UC Irvine with 4:49 to go. Marko Vavic would force an Anteater turnover next, and Edwards took it back the other way for the finishing touch to get USC within one. Another Baron save keyed another USC attack. Morelli found Vavic for the searing strike that equalized the game for the first time since the 3:44 mark of the first period. After a Lachlan Edwards field block squashed UC Irvine's next offensive series, Matt Maier unleashed an incredible nearside score to lift USC ahead 10-9 with 2:30 to go. USC's defense would step up for the rest, and the Trojans averted a dire situation to claim the comeback victory and advance to the evening's semifinals. USC gripped a 3-1 lead in the first period of play, but would fall behind 8-7 entering the fourth. On a 6-on-5, Morelli found Thomas Dunstan for the rocket that leveled it at 8-8 early in the fourth. A takeaway from Dunstan later helped get USC back on the attack, and it was Lachlan Edwards who finally got his just reward for earning countless ejections from his 2-meter spot. On this 6-on-5, Vavic hit Edwards for a booming dunk at the post to nudge USC ahead 9-8 with 5:09 on the clock. Stanford was clearly not going away, however, and the Cardinal scored off the foul next to snarl up the score once more. Again, a convincing USC 6-on-5 did the trick for the Trojans, who had Morelli set up another teammate for the go-ahead blast. Blake Edwards delivered this one, netting his second goal of the game and a 10-9 USC lead with 3:05 to go. Stanford would fire off another equalizer not 20 seconds later, and although the next USC power play would be stopped by Stanford goalie Drew Holland, Morelli would take matters in his own hands in the final minute. The Italian let loose a laser that put USC on top 11-10 with 28 ticks to go. Baron would come up big with a late save, and USC was able to hang on for the crucial comeback victory. Down by three goals with 4:13 left in Sunday's title match vs. UCLA, USC dug deep to carve the deficit down to one with 1:47 on the clock. Dunstan earned a power play for his Trojans, and Morelli served up his seventh assist of the tournament in finding Stein for a ripper that made it 12-10 at 3:07. After turning away the Bruins, USC got back on the attack, with Blake Edwards finding the hot-handed Stein for a sizzling skip that cut it to 12-11. Edwards would come up with a steal next, and USC called timeout with 1:20 to go. The referee's whistle would turn the ball back to the Bruins soon after, however, but Vavic was able to come up with a steal with 37 seconds left. Lachlan Edwards let loose a brilliant backhand, but it slammed the post, and USC's next try to equalize was off the mark. That left the ball in UCLA's hands for the final possession, and the Bruins opted to pad its lead with a last-second strike that finished things as a 13-11 UCLA win for USC's first loss of 2017.
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The No. 2 Trojans wrap the regular season with a rivalry matchup, heading across town to top of MPSF play with a visit to No. 4 UCLA. It's an opportunity for the Trojans to avenge a loss to the Bruins taken back in September. This Saturday (Nov. 11), USC (22-2, 1-1 MPSF) will tangle with host UCLA (17-3, 0-2) at 1 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Center in Westwood in a key matchup with MPSF Tournament seeding and NCAA berth implications. The game will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Los Angeles, with Adam Krikorian and Jim Watson on the call.
RANKINGS
USC started its 2017 journey holding strong at No. 2 in the preseason national rankings. The Trojans wrapped 2016 at No. 2 in the land after reaching the NCAA final for the 12th consecutive season. After standing at No. 2 for the first five weeks of 2017 competition, USC climbed to No. 1 in the nation on Oct. 4. The Trojans have dropped out of the top spot this week, ranking No. 2 in the latest national poll (released Nov. 8).
SCOUTING UCLA
The No. 4 Bruins are 17-3 overall and 0-2 in MPSF play after a 7-5 MPSF loss to Stanford and a 14-6 win at San José State last weekend. Nicolas Saveljic leads UCLA in scoring with 37 goals. Goalie Alex Wolf averages 10.6 saves and 6.9 goals-against per game. USC is 67-55-1 all-time against the Bruins in a series dating back to 1979. UCLA won this year's first meeting with a 13-11 decision in the 2017 Mountain Pacific Invitational title match at USC. Last year, the Trojans beat the Bruins 8-7 during MPSF play at USC and 9-6 in the 2016 MPSF Tournament championship game in Berkeley. USC's last win over UCLA in Westwood was a 10-6 victory in the semifinals of the 2014 SoCal Tournament.
LAST WEEK
USC wound up with a road split last weekend, taking a 6-3 loss in Berkeley to No. 2 California and then rebounding with an 11-7 win over No. 5 Pacific in Stockton. USC opened up in control against the Golden Bears, thanks in part to five first-frame saves by senior goalie McQuin Baron to render Cal scoreless. Senior captain James Walters showed relentless effort on the offensive end, firing off a shot, finishing off a rebound to net a 1-0 lead for the Trojans at 2:25 in the first. In the second period, however, USC's shots were frustratingly off the mark or within reach of Cal's goalie, while the Golden Bears were able to solve the Trojan defense at the other end. Cal leveled it early on with a blast just over a minute into the second, then took the lead and added to it with back-to-back goals. That left USC in a 3-1 hole at halftime, giving the Trojans some work to do in the second half. USC was able to make adjustments in the third period, with sophomore Matt Maier rifling in a strike from the top to make it a one-goal game. Two more Baron saves would follow, and then it was junior Zach D'Sa who delivered the equalizer when he ripped in a shot that had too much heat on it for the Cal goalie to stop solidly, and the ball trickled across the goal line to make it 3-3 midway through the third. Cal, however, would skid one in in the final seconds of the frame, taking a 4-3 lead with 12 ticks remaining in the third. In the fourth, USC was unable to crack the Cal defense. Cal converted on a 6-on-5 with Baron excluded for the possession, going up 5-3 in the opening minute of the fourth. USC kept firing, but to no avail, while Cal took advantage of a pressing USC defense that saw Baron out of the cage, sailing in the long ball with the goal empty in the final minute for a 6-3 scoreline that would hold down the stretch. The next day in Stockton, USC got back in winning mode with a balanced effort. The Trojans scored the first four goals of the game and shut out the Tigers in the second period to establish control. Senior goalie McQuin Baron notched his 1,000th career save with his first of 16 stops in the win, while eight different Trojans got on the scoresheet to lift USC to 22-2 overall on the year.
RECORD-BREAKING BARON
On Sept. 16 in USC's first-ever meeting with MIT, senior goalie McQuin Baron broke USC's all-time career saves record with his fifth save of the game. That notched Baron's 856th save to edge out previous leader Joel Dennerley, who had set the USC record during his senior season on Sept. 18, 2011 — almost exactly six years earlier. Baron already held the USC record for single-season saves, set his freshman year with 288 saves collected in 2014. Now with 1,015 career saves to his name, Baron has become just the second MPSF goalie to break the 1,000-save barrier in his career. As he continues to set his sights on anchoring the Trojans to a national championship, Baron also is hot on the trail of Pacific's Alex Malkis, who holds the MPSF record with 1,057 career saves from 2010-13.
CLIMB ON
While McQuin Baron tops the saves leaderboard at USC with his 1,015 career stops, a set of All-American senior sharpshooters are charging up the scoring charts. Blake Edwards has climbed to No. 12 all-time with 149 career goals — just two goals away from breaking into the all-time top-10. He's followed by Grant Stein at No. 15 with 140. Just steps behind are Matteo Morelli at No. 16 with 139 goals and Lachlan Edwards at No. 20 in USC history with 133. Fellow senior James Walters, meanwhile, has built his career count up to 90 goals, putting him in striking distance of the century mark as a Trojan.
ALL-AMERICAN EDGE
With eight All-Americans back in the water for 2017, USC head coach Jovan Vavic has more All-American talent than he has room for in his starting lineup. In that core group of decorated All-Americans, seven are seniors. Two of them are repeat team captains — James Walters and returning top scorer Blake Edwards — both two-time All-Americans. One is Cutino Award winner McQuin Baron, who will soon be taking over as USC's all-time saves leader. Three more Trojan All-Americans — Matteo Morelli, Lachlan Edwards and Grant Stein — accumulated over 100 combined goals last year. The seventh — standing out as the brains of the group — is NCAA Elite 90 Award winner Mihajlo Milicevic, who stars as a stingy defender for the Trojan cause. The only first-time All-American in the crew is on his way in to his second season at USC, as sophomore Matt Maier returns to the pool as the 2016 MPSF Newcomer of the Year.Â
BY THE NUMBERS
Now 24 games deep into 2017, the Trojans have displayed widespread scoring ability. Twenty-one Trojans scored on USC's first day of action — a doubleheader at the UCLA Mini Invitational. Since then, freshman Marko Vavic now stands as the most prolific Trojan to date with 41 goals, followed by senior Blake Edwards with 39, senior Grant Stein with 30 and senior Matt Morelli with 29. Defensively, three goalies have capped up in the cage. McQuin Baron has appeared in 23 games, with double-digit saves in 10 games. He's averaging 10.7 saves and 5.35 goals-against per game. Will Rubschlager and Simon Wu have shared time in backup roles to Baron, combining for 45 saves. In all, USC has outscored opponents 378-135. As a team, USC ranks No. 1 in the MPSF in offense (15.75 gpg) and No. 2 in defense (5.63 gapg).
DEPTH CHARGE
As valuable as USC's sizeable senior class is, Jovan Vavic has his eyes on a few other returners as linchpins in this season's efforts. Now sophomores, Olympian Thomas Dunstan, MPSF Newcomer of the Year Matt Maier and FINA Junior World Championship silver medalist Marin Dasic are even more prepared to be impact players for the Trojans. Junior Zach D'Sa and redshirt sophomore Daniel Leong both had breakout seasons last year and are primed for major playing time in 2017. Redshirt junior Tim Leong has also maneuvered his way into an increased role, while redshirt sophomore Sam Slobodien, too, made major strides last season and during the summer, lining himself up for extra duty at the two-meter mark along with fellow centers Maier, James Walters and Lachlan Edwards. In all, the Trojans return 90 percent of their scoring production from last season as well as their entire goalkeeping corps.Â
NEW CREW
Among the talented Trojan youth movement, Vavic taps redshirt freshmen Luke Wyatt, Chas Hornecker and Luka Karaman and true freshmen Marko Vavic and Christian Hockenbury as the brightest stars who are seeing the benefits of their hard work and skills developed in the run-up to this 2017 campaign. At 6-foot-6 and with U.S. National Team experience, Vavic stands to be a quick and powerful fit into his father's gameplan. Marko is the third of head coach Jovan Vavic's children to cap up at USC, following in the footsteps of older brother Nikola and sister Monica, who won a combined five NCAA Championships as Trojans.
OPENING DAY
Twenty-one Trojans got on the scoresheets in USC's season-opening action at the UCLA Mini Invitational. Fifteen Trojans logged goals in each game as USC posted a 27-3 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps followed by a 24-3 win over Pomona-Pitzer. Along the way, five Trojans — Marko Vavic, Troy Furniss, Christian Emerson, Christian Hockenbury and Chas Hornecker — registered their first career goals at USC. Â
TROJAN TRAVELS
In July, the Trojans took a trip through international waters, soaking up some sun while splashing down in seas, pools and rivers across France, Italy, Croatia and Montenegro. The Trojans set up camp in Nice (France), Recco (Italy), Split (Croatia) and Herceg Novi (Montenegro) while scrimmaging local teams and training for the upcoming 2017 season back in the USA. That European adventure brought the entire USC squad together as a team, offering up invaluable opportunities to gel in the water and out. In fact, the last three USC teams to take a similar summer training trip to Europe came back to the USA and won the national championship that same year. It's a theme that bodes well for the 2017 Trojans, who boast a senior class that is 13 Trojans strong and who have 11 redshirt freshmen and newcomers lined up for their first official action this season.
AND NOW, THIS
Now in his 23rd year at the helm of the USC water polo program, Jovan Vavic has guided the Trojans to the NCAA title match every season for the past 12 years. He's captured seven championships during that stretch. Last season, USC manufactured a 24-2 overall record, losing just one road game during the regular season, winning the MPSF Championship and then falling in a frustrating NCAA final that went to overtime in its opponent's home pool. This year, the Trojans are lined up as host of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, set for Dec. 2-3 at USC's own Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The last time the Trojans hosted the national championship, they capped it off by hoisting the 2012 championship trophy. This year, USC aims to once again successfully defend the Trojans' home waters while adding a 10th NCAA trophy to the men's collection of championships.Â
MOUNTAIN PACIFIC INVITATIONAL RECAP
USC scored the first seven goals to keep the Trojans in the driver's seat in the first game of the day at the 2017 Mountain Pacific Invitational at Uytengsu Aquatics Center. Twelve Trojans scored in the win, while three USC goalies logged time in the cage to help notch an 18-9 win over San José State. The next day, USC shrugged off a three-goal deficit in the quarterfinals and a two-goal hole in the semis to claim two tight comeback wins. The Trojans had to get down to business for a fourth-quarter comeback to beat No. 10 UC Irvine 10-9 in the morning's quarterfinals. That set up a rematch with No. 3 Stanford in the evening's semifinals, where USC showed it still had some fight left to make a late move to beat the Cardinal 11-10. The Anteaters were up 9-6 on the Trojans entering the final eight minutes of regulation. After McQuin Baron settled in a made a key power play save, Blake Edwards earned a 5-meter penalty shot that Matteo Morelli promptly deposited into the back of the net to make it 9-7 UC Irvine with 4:49 to go. Marko Vavic would force an Anteater turnover next, and Edwards took it back the other way for the finishing touch to get USC within one. Another Baron save keyed another USC attack. Morelli found Vavic for the searing strike that equalized the game for the first time since the 3:44 mark of the first period. After a Lachlan Edwards field block squashed UC Irvine's next offensive series, Matt Maier unleashed an incredible nearside score to lift USC ahead 10-9 with 2:30 to go. USC's defense would step up for the rest, and the Trojans averted a dire situation to claim the comeback victory and advance to the evening's semifinals. USC gripped a 3-1 lead in the first period of play, but would fall behind 8-7 entering the fourth. On a 6-on-5, Morelli found Thomas Dunstan for the rocket that leveled it at 8-8 early in the fourth. A takeaway from Dunstan later helped get USC back on the attack, and it was Lachlan Edwards who finally got his just reward for earning countless ejections from his 2-meter spot. On this 6-on-5, Vavic hit Edwards for a booming dunk at the post to nudge USC ahead 9-8 with 5:09 on the clock. Stanford was clearly not going away, however, and the Cardinal scored off the foul next to snarl up the score once more. Again, a convincing USC 6-on-5 did the trick for the Trojans, who had Morelli set up another teammate for the go-ahead blast. Blake Edwards delivered this one, netting his second goal of the game and a 10-9 USC lead with 3:05 to go. Stanford would fire off another equalizer not 20 seconds later, and although the next USC power play would be stopped by Stanford goalie Drew Holland, Morelli would take matters in his own hands in the final minute. The Italian let loose a laser that put USC on top 11-10 with 28 ticks to go. Baron would come up big with a late save, and USC was able to hang on for the crucial comeback victory. Down by three goals with 4:13 left in Sunday's title match vs. UCLA, USC dug deep to carve the deficit down to one with 1:47 on the clock. Dunstan earned a power play for his Trojans, and Morelli served up his seventh assist of the tournament in finding Stein for a ripper that made it 12-10 at 3:07. After turning away the Bruins, USC got back on the attack, with Blake Edwards finding the hot-handed Stein for a sizzling skip that cut it to 12-11. Edwards would come up with a steal next, and USC called timeout with 1:20 to go. The referee's whistle would turn the ball back to the Bruins soon after, however, but Vavic was able to come up with a steal with 37 seconds left. Lachlan Edwards let loose a brilliant backhand, but it slammed the post, and USC's next try to equalize was off the mark. That left the ball in UCLA's hands for the final possession, and the Bruins opted to pad its lead with a last-second strike that finished things as a 13-11 UCLA win for USC's first loss of 2017.
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