Saturday, November 23
Berkeley, Calif.
11:00 AM
USC
at
California
Players Mentioned
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Photo by: Katie Chin
No. 1 Trojans Take Top Seed Into 2019 MPSF Tournament
November 20, 2019 | Men's Water Polo, Features
USC opens with a Saturday semifinal in Berkeley as it looks to tally a 12th MPSF tournament title.
2019 MPSF Tournament
Spieker Aquatics Complex (Berkeley, Calif.)
Friday, November 22
Penn State Behrend vs. Austin College — 9 a.m.
Game 1: [3] UCLA vs. [6] PSB/AC loser — 1 p.m.
Game 2: [4] Cal vs. [5] PSB/AC winner — 3 p.m.
Saturday, November 23
Semi 1: [1] USC vs. Game 2 winner — 11 a.m.
Semi 2: [2] Stanford vs. Game 3 winner — 1 p.m.
Sunday, November 24Â
Fifth Place: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner — 11 a.m.
Third Place — 1 p.m.
Championship — 3 p.m.
THIS WEEK
The top seed for the 2019 MPSF Tournament, USC (13-4) has its eyes on claiming a 12th title at the tourney. Such success would sew up a 15th consecutive ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the Trojans. To get there, USC will first need to get down to business in the MPSF semifinals at 11 a.m. on Saturday (Nov. 23) at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley. In that semi, USC will face either No. 4 seeded host Cal (12-10) or Penn State Behrend or Austin College, depending on the outcomes of Friday (Nov. 22) competition. On Sunday (Nov. 24), placement games will be held. The MPSF Championship game is slated for 3 p.m., preceded by a 1 p.m. third-place game.Â
COVERAGE PLAN
For fans who can't make it to Berkeley, all games at the 2018 MPSF Tournament will be available for live streaming. Friday and Saturday games, and Sunday's fifth-place game, will all be streamed at mpsports.org/watch for a fee. Sunday's third-place and championship games will be televised on Pac-12 Networks and streamed (for subscribers) at pac-12.com/live, with Greg Mescall and Adam Krikorian on the call.
RANKINGSÂ
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 on Sept. 18. USC climbed up to  No. 4 in the Oct. 9 rankings before moving to No. 6 in the Oct. 23 rankings. The Trojans were ranked No. 7 in the Oct. 30 rankings, climbed to No. 4 on Nov. 6, and got back where they began at No. 1 in the land last week (Nov. 13). USC remains in that No. 1 spot this week (as of Nov. 20).
MPSF RUNDOWN
Now a six-team conference, the MPSF Tournament is structured to have out-of-state teams Penn State Behrend (6-12) and Austin College (3-17) play each other first to determine the No. 5 and 6 seeds in the tournament. They'll face off at 9 a.m. on Friday (Nov. 22), with the winning team going on to face No. 4 seed Cal (12-10) and the losing team facing No. 3 seed UCLA (16-3). Top-seeded USC (13-4) and No. 2 seed Stanford (17-2) await their opponents for semifinal bouts on Saturday (Nov. 23), with placement games set for Sunday (Nov. 24).Â
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
USC was the No. 2 seed in last year's MPSF Tournament after going 2-1 during the MPSF regular season to hold a 28-1 overall record entering the postseason. Hosts of the 2018 tourney, the Trojans were edged out by Cal 10-9 in the semifinal and then fell to UCLA 7-4 in the third-place game. Jacob Mercep would be named to the MPSF All-Tournament Team. At 28-3 overall, USC received the No. 2 seed into the 2018 NCAA Tournament to secure its 14th consecutive NCAA appearance. There, USC avenged that loss to UCLA with an 8-7 victory over the Bruins in the NCAA semifinal to take its 14th straight trip to the NCAA final. Up against top-seeded host Stanford in the title match, USC emerged with its 10th national championship after a 14-12 victory over the Cardinal.
LAST ACTION
USC gutted out a wild win in Berkeley in the regular-season finale, leading by as many as four goals in the first half but falling behind midway through the fourth period. After taking losses in Bear Territory in the past four visits to Berkeley, the top-ranked Trojans were ready to break the cycle. In the last 2:30 of play, USC saw senior Matt Maier equalize on a counterattack strike, and then sophomore Jake Ehrhardt reared up and hammered home what would stand as the winner with 25 ticks to go, giving USC a 14-13 win over No. 7 host California. Junior Jacob Mercep followed an early zinger from Hannes Daube with a blast that netted a 2-0 USC lead early. It also tallied Mercep's 100th career goal as a Trojan — completed in under two seasons of work. With Ehrhardt and Maier clicking off Trojan goals as well in the first, USC was up 4-1 after eight minutes of action. In the second frame, though, USC would see its two leading scorers sidelined by the referee's whistles. Marin Dasic and a Cal player were both ejected from the game early in the second. Mercep would get tagged with his third exclusion two minutes later. And yet, still, the Trojans were able to pile on three more big goals in the frame. Before his third kickout, Mercep set up Daube for a power play finish that got USC up 5-2. The Bears would find their scoring touch, but USC's Luke Wyatt was there to fire right back. He'd rip in USC's last two goals of the half, with a sizzling cross cage bar-in blast that boosted USC to its largest lead, up 7-3. Cal countered back with a strike before halftime, and it was a 7-4 USC lead at the break. Things ratcheted up in the second half as Cal began to chip away at USC's advantage. Daube delivered his third of the day to make it 8-5, but the Bears managed back-to-back scores to trim the lead down to one. Ehrhardt would find the hot-handed Daube for a 6-on-5 ripper that got USC up 9-7 with 4:03 on the clock, only to see Cal net two more goals to bring up the first tie since the opening whistle. With it snarled at 9-9 in the final minute of the third, Sam Slobodien's hard work at set garnered another USC 6-on-5 chance. Freshman Chris Sturtevant would fake and fire, and USC was back on top 10-9 with the fourth quarter up next.  Cal would sneak into its first lead of the game with two goals in the first two minutes of the fourth, but the Trojans rose to the challenge and got a booming equalizer from Slobodien at two-meters. Ehrhardt unleashed a perfect lob not a minute later, and USC was back on top, up 12-11 with 4:16 to go. Again, the hosts had a response. The Bears found two more goals in under a minute, and USC was in a one-goal hole with 3:13 on the clock. That's when Daube would feed Maier on a counter, with the captain going one-on-one with the Cal goalie and slicing it through to snarl it up at 13-13. Two more USC exclusions gave Cal a good opportunity to go up again, but Ehrhardt was there for a shut-down field block. Luka Karaman and Slobodien would combine forces on another key defensive takeaway by the Trojans, leading Wyatt to feed Ehrhardt for a rise-up rocket that lifted USC to a 14-13 advantage with 25 seconds left in regulation. Any Cal hopes of OT were dashed by an errant shot in the final stretch, and USC emerged victorious in Berkeley.Â
CENTURY CLUB
USC's newest card-carrying member of the 100-goal club is junior Jacob Mercep, who joined senior Marin Dasic as a club member with a goal scored at Cal on Nov. 16 to tally his 100th as a Trojans. For Dasic, it was his eighth of a final 10 goals scored at the Inland Empire Classic that counted as the 100th goal of his USC career. Dasic now boasts 128 career goals to date to rank No. 22 all-time among career scorers at USC. Mercep now grips an even 100. Two other Trojans also are closing in on the club, with seniors Sam Slobodien (98) and Matt Maier (95) the next Trojans in reach of hitting the century mark.
BY THE NUMBERS
With the postseason up next, USC has outscored opponents 235-161. The Trojan offense is generating 13.82 goals per game while the defense has allowed 9.47 goals-against per game. Leading the offensive charge so far are junior Jacob Mercep and Marin Dasic with 38 and 36 goals, respectively. Sophomore Hannes Daube is next with 30 goals, followed by sophomore Jake Ehrhardt with 25 goals and senior Sam Slobodien with 23. On the defensive end, USC has utilized three goalies. All-American sophomore Nic Porter has capped up in 12 games and averages 10.95 saves per game while giving up 9.81 goals per game. He also has the distinction of registering the most single-game saves by a Trojan goalie since at least 2005 with his 20-save performance vs. Stanford on Nov. 2. Junior Vaios Vlahotasios has appeared in seven games with a 9.67 saves-per-game effort and allowing 9.33 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.
SWEEPS WEEK
USC garnered its first MPSF awards sweep of the season on Nov. 4 with goalie Nic Porter named MPSF Player of the Week for the first time and freshman Marcus Longton nabbing USC's first MPSF Newcomer of the Week honor this season. The two first-time picks were instrumental in USC's upset win over No. 1 Stanford and a big victory over San José State in USC's final home games of the year. Nic Porter had a career-high 20 saves — the most single-game saves by a USC goalie since at least 2005 — to help the Trojans upset #1 Stanford 9-8 in an MPSF clash on Saturday.  Porter broke his previous career high of 15 with his 16th save coming against a dangerous Stanford counterattack in the final minute of the third, preserving a two-goal USC lead. His 20th save came with 1:20 remaining to hold a crucial late two-goal USC lead. It was Porter's fifth straight game with double-digit saves and the most since setting a previous career high of 15 almost exactly a year ago. On Sunday, Porter tallied nine saves in a 17-9 USC win over visiting #12 San José State. Marcus Longton had his first career hat trick in USC's win over Stanford, then scored twice against San José State to help make it a winning weekend for the Trojans. Against the Cardinal, Longton scored twice in the first period, going back-to-back to give USC its first lead of the game. Longton added his third to get USC up 7-5 during the third period. Against SJSU, Longton scored in the second and third periods, then added an assist on USC's final goal of the game. Longton had been scoreless in USC's previous three games before the breakout hat trick vs. Stanford.
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 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.Â
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. 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 in 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 has been 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. 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 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. •
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