Trojans dominate Gauchos in home opener
It was a top-five matchup in the Uytengsu Aquatics Center on Saturday, when No. 4 USC took on No. 5 UC Santa Barbara. In the Trojans’ (12-2, 2-0 MPSF) first game at home this season after playing on the road for four straight weeks, the team took out the Gauchos by a final score of 14-5.
Newbie · Freshman goalkeeper McQuin Baron continued his domination against the Gauchos, recording 12 saves. Baron now has 102 in his career. – Mariya Dondonyan | Daily Trojan
UCSB opened the scoring with a 6-on-5 goal, but USC responded quickly with two goals of its own to take a 2-1 lead. The Trojans went on a 5-0 scoring run soon after, and their lead was 9-2 at the half. In the third, the Trojans and Gauchos split two goals apiece, making the score 11-4 at the end of the period. USC was in complete control in the fourth frame, scoring three goals to the Gauchos’ one.
The last time the Trojans played UCSB, the match was much more contested and resulted in a 12-7 Trojan victory in the Kap7 NorCal Classic earlier this season.
Head coach Jovan Vavic believes his team’s improved performance against the Gauchos is due to differences in preparing for a tournament versus preparing for a single game.
“I think we are a little bit more prepared today because when we played them last time, we didn’t know who we were going to play because it was dependent on what they did in the game before, so we really were not preparing for them,” Vavic said. “We were getting ready for any opponent.”
In the first half of Saturday’s game alone, nine different Trojans scored each of the team’s goals. Vavic believes that sharing the wealth is key to his team’s success.
“That is the strength of our team, and every coach likes to see more people score,” Vavic said. “Everybody knows [senior driver] Kostas [Genidounias] is our main guy, and everyone is going to try to shut him down, so having so many different people score was big. We hope we continue to do that.”
It was a significant win for USC, but also for several of the Trojan players, including freshman goalie McQuin Baron. The last time the two teams played, Baron had a career-high 15 saves. On Saturday he picked up 12 more.
Baron believes this success is rooted in his focus and discipline.
“Every week I try and prepare as best I can, watch video on each shooter on their offense just what they’re doing, learn how they’re trying to play,” Baron said.
Vavic is very happy with this rookie’s progress.
“He did an excellent job today,” Vavic said. “He was very focused. He did a good job not only blocking the shots but making some good passes in the counterattack. Baron is a special talent. He’s the backbone of our defense. Very pleased with his performance today.”
In addition to Baron’s big day, one of the game’s biggest moments came when Genidounias scored the first of his three goals and became USC’s second all-time leading scorer, breaking his tie with former Trojan Juraj Zatovic. Genidounias was humble about the achievement, however, saying that winning was his only priority.
“Before the game it was on my mind, but it wasn’t as important as getting the win,” Genidounias said. “It was a team effort. I don’t score the goals by myself. Someone has to give me the pass, so it’s a good team effort and I scored a few goals, and I’m up there at number two. It’s good with me but not as important as winning.”
The game was even more special because it was officially the first ever in the newly completed USC facility. Vavic was very pleased with the new arena.
“It’s great,” Vavic said. “I think it’s a very special place now because it’s so beautiful, so perfect for water polo. We have been looking forward to playing here for a while now so it was exciting. You could tell our guys are excited the way they started the game.”
USC will play in the SoCal Tournament hosted by UCLA next week. After Saturday’s win, the Trojans are confident they will perform better than they did in their last tournament, the NorCal Classic, which resulted in a fourth place finish.
Genidounias believes he and his team can keep up the success they have had in the past two weeks.
“We hope to go back to that tournament and have a better showing than in the NorCal tournament,” Genidounias said. “I think that now with all of our new players having a few extra games and learning the system, that’s a key for us for our new players to feel more comfortable in the system with each other. I think we’re going to be a little bit of a tougher team than we were in the NorCal Tournament.”
Baron also believes that even two weeks more experience for him and his young team is invaluable.
“I think we’re definitely more prepared now,” Baron said. “We had more time together. We’re a very young team, so we’re still learning how to play with each other and work as a unit. But we’re definitely coming together better day by day.”