USC stays perfect in MPSF play with pair of wins

The No. 2-ranked men’s water polo team notched a pair of victories over the weekend, beating two top-10 opponents in No. 9 Pepperdine at home and No. 6 UC Santa Barbara on the road.

Behind a second half surge and stellar defense, USC defeated No. 9 Pepperdine 8-2 on Saturday at Uytengsu Athletics Center, followed by an intense 6-5 win on Sunday at UCSB.

It was a low-scoring, tight game at halftime, with the Trojans leading 3-2. But the team recorded five unanswered goals in the second half to pull away for the victory.

“We played good defense,” head coach Jovan Vavic said. “We gave up only two goals, but we have to do a better job offensively. [In the first half] we missed way too many shots. We did a good job in the second half putting the ball away and just executing a little bit better.”

The dominant second half started with a power play goal by Lachlan Edwards, who finished in the middle after great ball movement by Nick Bell and Grant Stein. Then, on another 6-on-5, Bell lobbed one to James Walters, who finished to give USC a 5-2 lead.

The Trojans cashed in twice more before the period ended on goals by Bryce Hoerman and Matteo Morelli, extending the advantage to 7-2.

“Our start wasn’t that good,” sophomore Mihajlo Milicevic said. “It was hard in the beginning but after that we calmed down, focused a bit more and played our game.”

Stein applied the finishing touches with a goal early in the fourth period, firing a rocket from the right point for an 8-2 USC lead.

Vavic credited his team’s depth for its ability to distance itself in the second half.

“They got tired, and we wore them down,” Vavic said. “We played more players. Both teams were playing hard. Our depth in the end was the difference maker.”

Defensively, USC held Pepperdine scoreless in the second half and to just two tallies the entire game. Running a full-out press, the Trojans forced 21 turnovers by the Waves and held Pepperdine to just one goal on nine power play opportunities. The strong defense in front of goalkeeper McQuin Baron meant wasn’t tested often, as he had only eight saves in the winning effort.

“We made small adjustments to make sure we executed our plan, especially on defense,” Bell said of the second half changes.

The Trojans recorded the lone goal of the first period at the 6:20 mark when Blake Edwards lofted one over the goalkeeper. It would be the only points on the board until three minutes into the second period when Mark Urban evened it up for Pepperdine.

Twenty-six seconds later, USC regained the lead on Bell’s first goal. Just before halftime, Milicevic found the back of the net on the power play with a hard shot, only to have Pepperdine’s Gavin Scott score 16 seconds later. The flurry of goals made it 3-2 USC at halftime.

On Sunday, the Trojans headed to UC Santa Barbara for a road match against the No. 6-ranked Gauchos and escaped with a narrow 6-5 win. USC fended off a late power play by UCSB, which had the man-up advantage with 45 seconds to play in the fourth period but could not convert.

USC led 3-2 at halftime with two second period goals after trailing 2-1 after one period. The Trojans took a 4-3 lead into the fourth, and back-to-back goals by Edwards gave them a 6-3 advantage and some much-needed breathing room.

Despite closing the lead to just one, the Gauchos were denied in their final bid to even the score.

Sunday’s game was the first of three consecutive road games for the Trojans.

“It’s very interesting to play away, because all those [fans], we can just shut them up, and that’s fun,” Milicevic said.

USC will travel to take on Pacific on Oct. 25 and Cal on Oct. 31.