The No. 3 USC Trojans fell in devastating fashion to No. 5 Stanford Saturday on the road, losing 14-13 in overtime. USC was defeated yet again Sunday, this time by No. 2 UC Berkeley 10-9 in another close contest in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

“I’m disappointed we lost the games, obviously. We went there to win and lost both games,” said Head Coach Marko Pintaric in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “We lost both games very close, first in overtime and second against Cal when we had the lead. I can’t hide my disappointment, but we are going to use that to get better and perform better for the rest of the season.”

It was a low-scoring affair to start against Stanford (10-5, 1-2 MPSF), as the game was tied 3-3 at the half. Stanford pulled away in the fourth quarter, taking a 10-6 lead, but USC (10-4, 0-3) staged a furious comeback, scoring five times in the final 5:21 of regulation. The comeback was capped off by a last-second equalizer from senior driver Carson Kranz to send the game to overtime at 11 apiece.

The game followed a similar pattern to when the Trojans faced Stanford two weeks ago. Their previous game went to overtime as well, after the Trojans trailed late in the fourth quarter, with freshman driver Zach Bettino scoring a last-second goal to give USC a 13-12 victory.

Stanford flipped the script this weekend though, going ahead with 2:12 remaining in the second half of overtime. They stifled the Trojans offense down the stretch to earn the one-goal victory. Despite the loss, Pintaric praised his team’s resiliency.

“Coming back two times in the same way tells you the team is resilient and the team refuses to lose,” Pintaric said. “That’s an attitude as a coach that you really want to see in your players, so I’m very proud of them for that.”

The Trojans faced off against Cal (13-2, 2-1) for the second time this season and in a rematch of the last two national championships Sunday. Cal had won each of those games, including a 12-5 victor against USC Sept. 10. In Sunday’s matchup, though, USC got off to a hot start and took a 7-4 lead into halftime.

However, the Trojans offense went quiet, scoring just twice in the second half. Cal took the lead with 4:49 to go and held on for the win. A main factor in the game was USC’s inability to score when it had a man advantage. The team converted on just 2/19 power plays, compared to 5/11 for Cal.

The game was a grueling, physical battle, with many exclusions called, and a scrum among the teams when tensions boiled over at the end of the third quarter. Graduate driver Massimo Di Martire, the Trojans co-leading scorer on the season, had to leave the game because of an injury.

“Water polo is a tough, physical sport. Sometimes it’s allowed and in this game it was allowed,” Pintaric said. “I just hope it’s going to be regulated better for the safety of our student athletes. [Di Martire] couldn’t keep playing because of the hard hit. Teach the guys how to protect themselves and keep playing rough.”

USC will now turn its attention to another highly ranked MPSF matchup against No. 1 UCLA (17-0, 3-0). They will face off Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Center at 1:00 p.m.