The No. 3 USC Trojans will take on No. 10 University of the Pacific this Sunday after a successful showing at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational tournament last weekend. The Trojans went 3-1, improving their record on the season to 9-2, and took third place in the tournament. 

In the third place game, USC trailed No. 4 Stanford by three goals in the fourth quarter. However, it rallied back to tie the game at the end of regulation and won 13-12 in overtime. USC Head Coach Marko Pintaric praised his team’s resilience in the game. 

“Especially after the loss to UCLA the day before, that tells you that the team’s frame of mind is great. They are mentally able to fight to the end,” Pintaric said. “It was not only players that play[ed] a lot of minutes, the game was actually won as a team. That’s why us as coaches are very happy to see that everybody on the team stepped in to contribute.”

USC earned the victory over Stanford with a last-second winning goal from freshman driver Zach Bettino. Bettino earned MPSF Newcomer of the Week honors for his play over the weekend.  

“[Pintaric] said before the game that Stanford, especially that game, was going to be a really big turning point for us. It would show us where we’re gonna go and where we’re headed for the rest of the season,” said redshirt junior utility Reed Stemler. “We slowly started to chip away at them. Thanks to our freshman Bettino, he stepped up really big and we ended up winning. It was a great team win.”

The Trojans now turn their attention to Pacific for this weekend’s game, which comes in with a record of 5-2 on the year. They began the season 5-0, but have dropped their last two games to UC Berkeley and UCLA — the same two teams that have defeated USC this season.

Pacific boasts a potent offense, already scoring more than 20 goals in three different games this season. Slowing down their attack will be key for the Trojans, Pintaric said. 

“Knowing the matchups, knowing their offensive tendencies,” Pintaric said. “We are preparing both goalies. They don’t even know who will start, so they’re both preparing to start, in order to do their homework on their shooters and on their offense.” 

Redshirt freshman goalie Bernardo Herzer and redshirt sophomore goalie Eric Hubner have split time in the net this season for USC. Herzer has played in seven games, allowing opponents to score 7.2 goals per game against him. Hubner has played in five, allowing opponents to score 10.8. Hubner played in the Trojans’ most recent game against Stanford, racking up 11 saves. 

Helping lead the Pacific attack is driver graduate student Stefan Vavic. Vavic was in the USC men’s water polo program for the previous four seasons before transferring to Pacific to begin this year. 

Vavic has found success so far with his new team. He leads Pacific with 13 assists on the year and has scored 11 goals as well. 

“We’re really excited to play him,” Stemler said. “We know exactly what he can bring. It’s going to be really challenging, but we’re really excited.” 

USC will take on Pacific at 1:00 p.m. at Uytengsu Aquatics Center this Sunday.