Trojans get set for tournament play-in game
Win or go home · Junior driver Blake Edwards and the Trojans are playing in the program’s 11th consecutive NCAA tournament. – Mariya Dondonyan | Daily Trojan
The USC men’s water polo team looks ahead to its 11th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which begins with a play-in game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Thursday night at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
A win over the Stags would send the Trojans to the semifinals, where they would face either UCLA or Cal. USC has appeared in the NCAA title match the last 10 seasons.
“It speaks for itself,” sophomore utility player James Walters said of the tournament streak. “It’s an awesome tradition here. The coaches know what they’re doing. They know how to prepare their teams to get into the NCAA tournament, and ultimately, it’s up to the players to perform.”
The Trojans earned an at-large bid with a third place finish in the MPSF Tournament last week. After a disappointing 11-6 loss to UCLA in the semifinals, USC came back strong with an 8-4 victory over Pacific in the third place game to advance their record to 20-6.
USC has not lost to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in its history, coming in with a record of 10-0 all-time against the Stags, including a 20-5 win at the Inland Empire Classic on Sept. 13. The two programs have not met in the NCAA Tournament.
Though the Trojans have their eyes set on UCLA or Cal in the next round, they must focus on the first hurdle Thursday.
“We’re looking at the overall goal of the season,” Walters said. “We want to win NCAA. We can’t be overconfident. Anyone can knock us out. We just have to stay focused for each game.”
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps enters the play-in game on a 17-game win streak. After starting the season 4-7, the Stags have not lost a match since September and seem like a different team than the one USC routed three months ago. They defeated Whittier 12-11 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship to earn an at-large bid.
The match will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center. It will follow the other play-in game between UC San Diego and Princeton at 5 p.m.
If they advance to the next stage, the Men of Troy will likely be headed for a collision course with top-ranked UCLA in a battle for the title. But things are little different this year with UCLA coming in as defending champions and following it up with an unbeaten season.
“The pressure’s all on UCLA this year,” sophomore goalie McQuin Baron said. “It’s finally no longer on USC since [the Bruins are] the reigning champions, and they had their undefeated season.”“No one’s looking for USC to win the championship game. Obviously, we are though.”
The NCAA tournament will be held at the Spieker Aquatics Center at UCLA Dec. 5 and 6.