Saturday, October 5
Los Angeles, Calif.
1:00 PM
USC
vs
UC Irvine
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Water Polo
G
/ Men's Water Polo
DR
/ Men's Water Polo
DR
/ Men's Water Polo
2M
/ Men's Water Polo
DR
/ Men's Water Polo
DR
/ Men's Water Polo
UT
/ Men's Water Polo
DR
/ Men's Water Polo
2M
/ Men's Water Polo
DR
/ Men's Water Polo
G
/ Men's Water Polo
2M
/ Men's Water Polo
2M
/ Men's Water Polo
DR
/ Men's Water Polo
DR
/ Men's Water Polo
G
/ Men's Water Polo
DR
/ Men's Water Polo
Photo by: Katie Chin
No. 5 Trojans Play Home And Away This Weekend
October 02, 2019 | Men's Water Polo, Features
USC hosts UC Irvine at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Uytengsu before making a Sunday visit to UC Santa Barbara.
#5 USC (7-2) vs. #13 UC Irvine (6-5)
Saturday, Oct. 5 | 1 p.m. |Â Uytengsu Aquatics Center
Series Record: USC leads 80-23 (W32)
Last Meeting: USC 15, UCI 5 (Nov. 4, 2018)
#5 USC at #4 UC Santa Barbara (15-2)
Sunday, Oct. 6 | 12 p.m. |Â Campus Pool (Santa Barbara, Calif.)
Series Record: USC leads 74-13-2 (L1)
Last Meeting: UCSB 13, USC 9 (Sept. 15, 2019)
THIS WEEK
No. 5 USC (7-2) has two games on tap this weekend, starting off with a home tilt against No. 13 UC Irvine. The Trojans host the Anteaters in a 1 p.m. clash on Saturday (Oct. 5) at Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The next day, USC hits the road looking for revenge against No. 4 UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos handed the Trojans their first loss of the year, so USC will aim to avenge that when the two teams clash on Sunday (Oct. 6) at 12 p.m. at Campus Pool in Santa Barbara.Â
RANKINGS
The defending NCAA champs opened up 2019 ranked No. 1 in the nation. An early loss sent the Trojans to No. 5 in the land as of Sept. 18. USC remains at No. 5 in the latest rankings, released Oct. 2.
SCOUTING UCI
The No. 13 Anteaters are 6-5 overall after going 1-3 at the SoCal Invite last week. UCI lost to Cal 10-5 and beat Pomona-Pitzer 13-11 in group play before taking a 15-10 loss to UC San Diego and falling 14-10 to LMU. Jason Evezard leads UCI in scoring with 2.45 goals per game, and goalie Harrison Land is averaging 10.3 saves and 10.4 goals against per game in 11 appearances. USC is 80-23 all-time against the Anteaters with wins in the past 32 meetings after last year's 15-5 win in Irvine.Â
SCOUTING UCSB
The No. 4 Gauchos are 15-2 overall after a fourth-place finish at the SoCal Invite last week. UCSB beat San José State 11-5 and Pepperdine 14-10 in group play before falling to UCLA 9-8 in the semis and to Pacific 11-10 in the third-place game. Cole Brosnan leads UCSB in scoring with 38 goals, and goalie Danny Roland has made 41 saves in his eight appearances. USC is 74-13-2 all-time against the Gauchos after taking a rare loss to UCSB last month at the Inland Empire Classic, where the Gauchos beat the Trojans 13-9 in La Verne.Â
LAST WEEK
A tight loss to No. 4 Pacific put the No. 5 Trojans on a path toward the fifth-place game at the 2019 SoCal Invitational last week. After opening up with a 14-6 win over No. 14 Princeton on day one, USC stumbled in a high-scoring affair with the Tigers, taking a 16-15 defeat on day two. That sent USC to a rematch with No. 8 Long Beach State, which the Trojans handled with a 9-6 win to move into the fifth-place match. There, USC squared off against No. 7 Cal in a exclusion-riddled game that saw the Trojans leading by as many as five goals before the Bears closed the gap. USC maintained teh upper hand, though, and locked up fifth place with a 13-12 victory. Hannes Daube led all Trojans with 11 goals at the event, including a five-goal outburst against Pacific. Against Cal, USC had three Trojans hit hat tricks — Marin Dasic, Jake Ehrhardt and Jacob Mercep. Sam Slobodien, meanwhile, recorded back-to-back hat tricks vs. Pacific and Long Beach State, and drew a whopping six exclusions vs. Cal. Nic Porter manned the cage for the entirety of USC's last two games, recording 12 stops vs. Long Beach State and seven against Cal.
CENTURY CLUB
USC's newest card-carrying member of the 100-goal club is senior Marin Dasic. With his eighth of a final 10 goals scored out at the Inland Empire Classic, Dasic drummed up the 100th goal of his USC career. Dasic now boasts 112 career goals to date. And he has two fellow seniors also closing in on the club, with Matt Maier gripping 90 career goals, followed by Sam Slobodien's 87. Junior Jacob Mercep is also on the prowl, having punched up 85 goals in his first season as a Trojan, he now holds 78 career goals at USC.
USC's newest card-carrying member of the 100-goal club is senior Marin Dasic. With his eighth of a final 10 goals scored out at the Inland Empire Classic, Dasic drummed up the 100th goal of his USC career. Dasic now boasts 112 career goals to date. And he has two fellow seniors also closing in on the club, with Matt Maier gripping 90 career goals, followed by Sam Slobodien's 87. Junior Jacob Mercep is also on the prowl, having punched up 85 goals in his first season as a Trojan, he now holds 78 career goals at USC.
BY THE NUMBERS
Now nine games into the season, USC has outscored opponents 136-80. The Trojan offense is generating 15.11 goals per game while the defense has allowed 8.89 goals-against per game. Leading the offensive charge so far are junior Jacob Mercep and Marin Dasic with 23 and 20 goals, respectively. Sophomore Hannes Daube is next with 14, with sophomore Jake Ehrhardt and senior Sam Slobodien gripping 12 apiece to date. On the defensive end, USC has utilized three goalies. All-American sophomore Nic Porter has capped up in five games and averaged 10.29 saves per game while giving up 9.14 goals per game. Fellow sophomore Vaios Vlahotasios has appeared in six games with an 8.6 saves-per-game effort and allowing 9.2 goals-against per game. Jere Ashby has also checked in for two periods of work, having collected nine saves and allowed just two goals in his appearances in the cage. In all, USC has had 16 different Trojans score to date, with five players tallying their first career goals. USC set a season high with 15 different scorers in USC's Sept. 15 win over Concordia.
SUMMER SUCCESS
Capped up for competition around the globe, several Trojans went big in international waters during the summer of 2019. Captain of the USA's World University Games squad, Jake Ehrhardt helped guide Team USA to a silver medal at the event in Italy. Soon after, Hannes Daube and Marko Vavic were on-hand for the United States' push to Olympic qualification. Those two Trojans grabbed gold medals at the Pan American Games in Peru to secure the USA men's spot at the 2020 Olympic Games. Daube and Vavic also competed with Team USA at the FINA World Championships in South Korea, where the United States men placed ninth. Freshman Chris Sturtevant also got in on international action over the summer as a member of Great Britain's World University Games squad in Italy.
PINTA'S PROGRAM
Marko Pintaric, who has been part of 14 NCAA championships during his 18 years on the USC coaching staff, was named head coach of the USC men's and women's water polo teams on August 29, replacing former head coach Jovan Vavic. An All-American and 1998 NCAA champion as a player at USC, Pintaric served as co-head coach for the USC men for the past three seasons (2016-18), most recently helping the Trojans to the 2018 NCAA Championship. His USC coaching career began as an assistant coach to both the USC men and women in 2001. Pintaric stayed in a dual coaching role until NCAA rules for coaching staff sizes changed in 2015-16, prompting a move to a scouting director role with the women while his assistant coaching role continued with the men for the next four years. Pintaric, who scored the game-winning goal in USC's first-ever national championship, finished his USC playing career before he had the chance to defend the Trojans' 1998 NCAA title. In 18 years since on the coaching staff, he has helped five USC men's water polo teams successfully defend their NCAA crowns. Now, as the head coach, Pintaric has the opportunity to set up defense of another NCAA trophy.
ALL-AMERICAN LEADERSHIP
Senior captains Marin Dasic, Matt Maier and Sam Slobodien are seasoned, savvy and certain leaders for a USC roster brimming with talent. They are three of eight returning All-Americans, including a power pack of four of 2018 newcomers who exploded onto the scene in their first seasons as Trojans. Sophomores Hannes Daube, Jake Ehrhardt and Nic Porter and junior Jacob Mercep made indelible marks on the stat sheets for USC last year, and they are in full stride for 2019. Daube, Ehrhardt and junior Marko Vavic also combine forces in training with the U.S. National Team, with Daube and Vavic on-hand over the summer to help Team USA qualify for the Olympic Games, while Ehrhart captained the USA's World University Games team to a silver medal. Aussie goalie Porter and Croatian product Mercep represent possibly one of the most daunting one-two punches out there, as Porter stops shots on the defensive end while Mercep scores them at the other.
SENIOR STRENGTH
While All-Americans Dasic, Maier and Slobodien are in their final seasons of competition, there are three other noteworthy Trojans entering their fourth years with the program. Redshirt juniors Troy Furniss, Luka Karaman and Luke Wyatt also play a hefty leadership role for the group. Their dedication and hard work, too, have lifted all of them into significant contribution roles in the water as well. A lefty, Wyatt punched up 23 goals for the Trojan cause last season, including one in the NCAA Championship game. Karaman and Furniss factored in for 12 goals apiece in 2018.
CAGE FIGHTERS
In goal, returning All-American Nic Porter will be pushed once more by teammate Vaios Vlahotasios, who was also a newcomer to the USC cage in 2018 and who has proven himself a shot-stopping force to reckon with as well. Porter and Vlahotasios are a formidable goalie tandem for the Trojans, and are joined by freshman Garrett Allen and sophomore Jere Ashby as USC's talented goalkeeping corps for 2019.
THE NEW CREW
USC has 11 new Trojans set to see their first splashdowns in Cardinal and Gold in 2019. On the first weekend of competition, much of that group earned their stripes. Goalie Jere Ashby checked in for his first time in the cage, while fellow newcomers Matt Harrison, Marcus Longton, Grayden Reynolds and Chris Sturtevant all registered their first goals as Trojans.
LAST SEASON
The 2018 Trojans reached the NCAA final for the 14th consecutive season and emerged with the trophy for the 10th time in program history. A 14-12 win over host Stanford saw USC claim the national championship and finish out its first 30-win season. At the close of the winning campaign, USC had a program-record 10 Trojans earn All-America status, while newcomer Jacob Mercep scored NCAA Tournament MVP honors after a five-goal outburst in the title match. Mercep and freshman Hannes Daube both picked up All-America First Team honors to lead the pack of 10 honorees in USC's 30-3 season. •
Carson Kranz: Trojans Live 11.25.24
Monday, November 25
Stefan Brankovic | Trojans Live 09.23.24
Monday, September 23
Men's Water Polo - USC 13, UCLA 9: Highlights (11/18/23)
Saturday, November 18
Men’s Water Polo - USC 20, Augustana 4 : Highlights (11/17/23)
Friday, November 17
