Men’s water polo takes care of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps


With Thursday’s 22-2 win over Claremont- Mudd- Scripps in the rear view mirror, the No. 3 ranked USC Men’s Water Polo team can now focus all of its attention towards Saturday’s clash against No. 2 Cal.

The straight-forward victory served as an ideal tune-up for what is likely the most anticipated matchup of the season to this point.

The Trojans looked confident and focused throughout the dominating win over CMS. Two minutes in, junior Matteo Morelli began the scoring with a scorching long shot, his 100th career goal for USC.

“I knew that I was missing only one goal before the game but I wasn’t looking forward to score,” Morelli said. “I’m definitely happy about it but I was more willing to make passes and willing to help other teammates score.”

He continued his special first quarter with two more goals over the span of two minutes. Just five minutes in, Morelli had secured a hat-trick that was key in establishing the offense.

Morelli was not the only Trojan to hit the century mark. Fellow junior Grant Stein reached 100 goals in the second quarter and added one more in the final frame. Stein and Morelli joined leading scorer Blake Edwards as the men to reach 100 career goals this season. Freshmen standout Marin Dasic recorded a hat trick, while Nick Bell, Zach D’Sa and James Walters all added two goals themselves. The scoring onslaught amounted to two 7-goal quarters and the seventh time this season that the Trojans have eclipsed 20 goals in a game.

Goaltender McQuin Baron provided his standard excellence in goal recording seven saves and captaining a defense that conceded just two goals, the second lowest allowed all season. Freshman goalie Simon Wu replaced him in the fourth period and added two saves himself.

Despite the ease at which the Men of Troy were able to score, the game was coached as if it were a close contest. Coach Jovan Vavic criticized Morelli’s assist to Blake Edwards in the third quarter — resulting in USC’s 15th goal — calling it, “not a very good pass.”

Then in the fourth quarter, Vavic called a timeout with four minutes left and a 17th goal lead in hand. One of the lighter moments of the game came when Vavic asked a player how he could have possibly been tired from sitting on the bench.

Vavic’s intense, perfectionist style of coaching will become much more vital during Saturday’s game against Cal, when his team will likely not be able to score with the same frequency or ease as they have in recent contests. The last time the two powerhouses met was in September at the Mountain Pacific Invitational, where the Bears handed the Trojans their only loss of the season; a 10-8 nail biter at Berkley. Cal is now 15-2 with both losses to the undefeated UCLA. Saturday, the Men of Troy get to face the #2 team in the nation at their house, as they look to even the score.

“We are so excited,” Moreli said on Saturday’s game. “We lost the last game we played against Cal so we are ready to take our revenge. It’s going to be one of the most important games of the season so we are really ready, prepared and excited to play this game.”

The matchup will start at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.