No. 3 USC defeats No. 7 UC Santa Barbara at Uytengsu


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Redshirt senior driver Jacob Mercep attempts to steal the ball during USC’s game against Cal Oct. 9.
Redshirt senior driver Jacob Mercep attempts to steal the ball during USC’s game against Cal Oct. 9. (Bonnie Tim Sum Lee | Daily Trojan)

No. 3 USC took down No. 7 UC Santa Barbara on Sunday by a score of 13-9, giving the Trojans their fourth straight victory. USC never relinquished its lead, as it went on to get its 15th win on the season.

The game seemed to be all in the Trojans’ favor, as they jumped to an early 7-2 lead, but Santa Barbara never gave up as it went on a three-goal run to end the first half, to cut USC’s lead to only two goals and make it 7-5. 

Santa Barbara made it difficult for USC to run away with the game. However, USC, led by many seniors in a strong fourth period, eventually pulled away with the win.

“Having been in these positions, some of us in our fourth year now, when it gets to those moments like that, it’s on the seniors to calm the boys down,” said senior goalie Nic Porter after Sunday’s game. “We just have a lot of belief in our squad at the moment and that’s why we got the results today.”

Porter, coming off his second MPSF Player of the Week honor of the season, picked up another 10 saves on the day, helping back a strong Trojan defense make crucial plays in the second half.

There were 19 total turnovers between the two schools and countless shots were directed off the crossbar, USC’s defense stayed strong in large part because of Porter, who picked up the 32nd game of his career with 10 or more saves.

With the 10 saves in the game, Porter now moves into a tie for fifth most career saves in USC history with Bozidar Damjanovic.

Head Coach Marko Pintaric was very pleased with the performance of the team in the victory.

“Any win this late in the season is really really important, for morale, for guys to keep developing chemistry, to gel and to have this type of performance … was huge,” Pintaric said. “It’s a team sport and when everybody buys into it, that’s how you actually win games, win tournaments, win championships. So very, very pleased with this energy.”

Another big contributor for the Trojans was redshirt senior driver Jacob Mercep, as he finished the day with a hat-trick and moved into fourth place in the all-time goals list for USC. 

Just like last week against Stanford, Mercep’s timely scoring helped propel USC to victory, as he gave the Trojans a much needed goal to open the scoring of the fourth period and make it 10-7. The goal gave USC a
three-goal lead and helped seal the win for the Trojans.

“When the team needs it and when it’s close, I always try to give my best and help [the team] with my energy,” Mercep said.

Now with only one game remaining in the regular season, USC hopes to finish the season off strong with a win against No. 1 UCLA. The win would give the Trojans only one loss on the season with an overall record of 16-1. 

As expected, USC is prepared and excited to face UCLA, last seeing the Bruins in a loss in the NCAA final last year.

“You can expect nothing less than intensity and high pressure from both teams and we’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great, great day,” Pintaric said.

USC faces off against UCLA at 1 p.m. at Uytengsu Saturday.