No. 2 men’s water polo takes 10th straight victory

 

The No. 2 Trojans (19-1) handled the visiting San Jose State Spartans (7-18) with a 19-1 victory at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday’s win marks the 11th-straight victory for the Trojans, who entered the game with an unblemished 6-0 record at home.

The Trojans started off the game in dominating fashion thanks to expert defense and precise shooting. Fouls from several Spartan defenders early on opened up USC’s forwards to net four goals in the first period.

An exclusion penalty against the Trojans gave the Spartans a man-advantage that culminated in a right-side goal from Weber to give San Jose hope.

“Those are the things we need to work on going forward,” freshman driver Marin Dasic said. “Defense is the number one priority for us, and we can’t let those things happen. You can’t play a perfect game, obviously, but we need to get better.”

With a 4-0 lead at the end of the first, the second period was more of the same for the Men of Troy as USC scored four more goals in a period dominated by a Trojan offense.

And while San Jose’s starting goalie Conrad Gordon was valiant in the second period with multiple saves, the Spartans’ inability to keep USC out of their defensive zone permitted the Trojans to get off multiple close-range shots.

At the end of the first half, USC led 8-1, with five different Trojans scoring goals.

Already with a seven-goal lead, the Trojans started off the second half slower than expected due to replacement goalie TJ Palmer’s numerous saves.

A multitude of USC turnovers gave SJSU adequate opportunities to score. However, the Spartans offense could not capitalize.

Eventually, the Men of Troy would break through the Spartans defense with a third-period scoring spree that included six goals. Freshman driver Thomas Dunstan started off the USC attack with a right-side ripper.

Junior driver Matteo Morelli earned yet another hat trick halfway through the third off a close-range penalty shot goal.

For San Jose State, its lack of bench depth appeared to be an issue as the game dragged on, considering the Spartans’ six available players paled in comparison to USC’s 16.

With a 14-1 lead going into the final frame, USC kept the scoring going with five more from the likes of Dasic, sophomore driver Zach D’Sa, freshman two-meter Matt Maier, junior utility James Walters and redshirt sophomore driver Brock Hudnut.

In the end, Morelli joined Dasic and Walters as the only three Trojans to score three goals a piece.

Now at 19-1, the Trojans go into the final week of the regular season with an excitement toward their final game against rival and the No. 1 team in the country in UCLA.

Walters, who scored his three of his 13 goals on Sunday, emphasized the importance of playing a team like San Jose State.

“You treat every opponent with respect, and you have to have that discipline to play your own game. I thought everything went well today,” Walters said. “As far as the team’s confidence against UCLA, we want to win. As long as we stick to our gameplan, we should do that.”