No. 2 men’s water polo drops first match


Two-way player · Junior driver Blake Edwards is among the team leaders in goals, but came up strong defensively over the weekend.

Two-way player · Junior driver Blake Edwards is among the team leaders in goals, but came up strong defensively over the weekend.

The No. 2 men’s water polo team left UC Berkeley’s Spieker Aquatics Complex with a third-place finish, but also suffered its first defeat of the season.

The Trojans could be in jeopardy of dropping in the rankings after losing to host No. 3 Cal 10-8 on Saturday.

Their weekend started off on a dominating note, as USC trounced Santa Clara 21-4 thanks to a flurry of goals. Within the first 16 minutes, 11 different Men of Troy netted goals, while junior goalie McQuin Baron completely shut out a Santa Clara offense that has struggled against top teams this season.

USC replaced Baron with backup goalie Simon Wu in the third period, who kept the Broncos at bay before freshman Will Rubschlager took over in the fourth.

At the end of four periods, over 15 different Trojans scored goals, with redshirt sophomore driver Chase Kaplow’s hat trick leading the way for junior driver Grant Stein, freshman two-meter Matt Maier, freshman driver Marin Dasic and redshirt junior driver Mitch Embrey to each net two goals of their own. In comparison to just four saves from Santa Clara goalie Patrick Collins, USC blocked 14 Bronco shot attempts.

With nine saves against Santa Clara, Baron followed it up with a tougher match against No. 7 Long Beach State, but another win nonetheless.

The first half started out well for the Trojans, who outscored the 49ers 5-2, thanks to strong defense from the Men of Troy. Eventually, USC led 8-2 with Long Beach, scoring two goals within the final four minutes to make the score 9-4.

The most impressive stat for the Trojans, other than Baron’s 13 saves, would have to be the 24 minutes that USC held Long Beach State scoreless. Junior driver Blake Edwards and junior utility Bryce Hoerman led the way defensively with a combination of steals and field blocks.

In terms of scoring, junior two-meter Lachlan Edwards and Maier capitalized on power play opportunities early on as junior driver Grant Stein, junior utility Mihajlo Milicevic, senior driver Nick Bell, sophomore driver Zach D’Sa, Edwards and redshirt freshman driver Sam Slobodien each scored in a commanding victory.

The biggest test of the tourney for Southern Cal came against Cal, who ended USC’s eight-game winning streak with a 10-8 victory.

While the Trojans were able to score 2 unanswered goals to put them up 2-1 in the first period, Cal would end up tallying five straight goals to go up 6-2 by halftime.

After holding Santa Clara to a 24-minute scoreless streak earlier in the tournament, the Golden Bears prevented USC from scoring for 15 minutes. With an 8-3 lead heading into the final period of play, the  deficit was too great for USC to overcome as Cal took the semi-final matchup.

Stein led the Trojans with two goals, and freshman drivers Thomas Dunstan and Marin Dasic, junior driver Matteo Morelli Maier, Blake Edwards and Bell also each netted goals for USC.

Against No. 4 Pacific, the Trojans jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one quarter en route to an 8-3 win to claim third place. Pacific rallied to get within one at 4-3 in the third period, but the Trojans, behind two goals from Stein, scored four unanswered to coast to victory,

The Trojans defense, despite playing a Pacific offense that scored 15 or more goals in eight of its first 12 games, was steadfast in the win.

Next up, the Trojans will face the Tigers again this Saturday at 1 p.m.

1 reply
  1. Steve B.
    Steve B. says:

    The loss means nothing in the regular season. It comes down to the conference tournament, and then
    the national one. You have to peak at that time. It is always one of four teams ( USC, ucla, Cal, or Stanford )
    that winds up winning the title.

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