Trojans face Stanford in NCAA tournament

For six years, head coach Jovan Vavic and USC have occupied the throne of collegiate men’s water polo. And after claiming six straight national championships, the kings are back for more.

 

Having defeated Whittier in a play-in game on Nov. 29 to reach their 10th consecutive NCAA final four, the USC men’s water polo team is all in for title number seven this weekend. In order to retain their crown, however, the No. 3 Trojans will have to overcome its demons in the form of No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 UCLA.

The Cardinal and the Bruins are the only teams against whom the Trojans have a losing record this season, going 0-2 versus Stanford and 1-3 against UCLA. Going up against the dangerous attackers Bret Bonanni and Alex Bowen, who have blasted the net 85 and 57 times for the Cardinal, respectively, the Trojans know their defense will have to be on point this weekend.

“The focus is on defense,” Vavic said. “As always, defense wins championships, so we have been spending quite a bit of time on different defensive schemes, but you have to have a complete game. You have to be able to execute in man-down situations. It’s going to be very important to be very sharp in transition defense because both Stanford and UCLA are excellent counterattack teams.”

Much of the Trojans’ difficulty with Stanford, however, has also come at the offensive end. The team only tallied four goals in the two sides’ second meeting on Nov. 22. Yet from the depth of the young Trojan squad, sophomore driver Nick Bell is confident in his team’s scoring ability this time around.

“We just have so many offensive threats, when they take away one we have another one right behind him,” Bell said. “I really don’t think they’re going to be able to stop us.”

The Trojans will meet the Cardinal in the NCAA tournament semifinals on Dec. 6, and, if they are able to advance, will likely take on the Bruins in the finals on Dec. 7, barring an upset to No. 6 UC San Diego. For the first time in nearly a decade, the Trojans are ranked below No. 1 at the final four and will have to play the role of underdog. Vavic and his team nevertheless embrace this unfamiliar spot.

“Even though we didn’t win it in 2006 or 2007, the last nine years heading into the NCAAs we were always ranked number one,” Vavic said. “It is a different feeling, a new challenge, and I really like these new challenges.”

Senior driver Kostas Genidounias believes such a position will work to the Trojans’ advantage.

“It’s weird, but it’s good being the underdog, because sometimes, they underestimate you,” Genidounias said. “Like we’ve said before, you should never underestimate the champions … These past two weeks have been good weeks for us in practice, and I think we’re going to be ready for the games.”

Along with winning three straight NCAA championships with the Trojans, Genidounias set the USC men’s water polo record last week against for most career goals at 255. Entering his last tournament as a Trojan, Genidounias will look to add to that tally and lift the Trojans en route to his fourth championship before riding off into the sunset. Genidounias noted the importance of not letting his emotions get to him in the championship tournament.

“It’s definitely an emotional feeling, an emotional moment — my last games as a Trojan,” Genidounias said. “But no one should let these emotions take over our capabilities of what we’re able to do.”

In a team more than half made up of freshmen, the contributions of the team’s seniors this season — Genidounias, redshirt driver Rex Butler, driver Marc Vondeweidt and redshirt two-meter Max Hurst-Mendoza — has been invaluable to Vavic. The tournament, however, will become the underclassmen’s time to shine, Vavic said.

“In the NCAAs and these key championship matches, really so much depends on these upperclassmen to show the younger guys the lead and tell them what to expect, and quite a bit of that happens before the NCAAs,” Vavic said. “Once you’re there, the younger players really need to be ready. They have to be ready to perform, they’re going to be left open. They’re going to be the ones forced to take a shot because [the other teams are] going to cover your best player.”

Entering with a young team and as an underdog, Vavic lauded his team for getting so far already.

“I don’t think we have anything to lose, to be honest — this team has already overachieved,” Vavic said. “You have Long Beach who’s loaded with seniors. Santa Barbara — loaded with seniors. Cal — very, very talented. Many of these teams, this was the year they should be beating us. And yet again here we are, going to the NCAAs.”

Feeling no pressure for that seventh straight championship, Vavic expects this season’s title to be anyone’s for the taking in La Jolla, California. The title match will take place on Sunday.

“Everything is definitely equal right now,” Vavic said. “Every single team going to the final four is equally capable of winning the national championship. It always comes down to who has the strongest desire to be a champion. This is going to be fun.”