Fans trickled into the Uytengsu Aquatics Center on Saturday afternoon for a highly anticipated divisional matchup between two of the best collegiate men’s water polo programs in the nation: No. 2 USC and No. 6 UC Berkeley. The Trojans ultimately clawed their way to their first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win of the season, beating Cal with a final score of 16 to 13. 

In what turned out to be a high-scoring affair, USC (12-2, 1-1 MPSF) and Cal (8-6, 0-2 MPSF) traded goals in the first and second quarters, keeping the game within reach for the Bears. Nine different Trojans scored at least one goal on offense, with fifth-year 2-meter Max Miller and junior utility Andrej Grgurevic each scoring hat tricks. Miller led the Trojans in scoring with five goals and Grgurevic was second on the day with three goals. 

The defining part of the game was an offensive explosion by the Trojans’ offense in the third quarter. USC scored eight of its 16 total goals in just the third quarter alone. 

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“One of our goals this season is to treat the second half of the game like a new game,” Miller said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “Approaching it that way, and kind of starting fresh, like [if] the score [was] 0 – 0, you know, coming out with that energy, I think really solidifies that win.”

While the Trojans led 15-8 at the end of the third, the Bears closed in on the Trojans’ lead in the fourth, leaving the door open for a comeback. USC closed out the game sloppily, allowing Cal to score five goals in the fourth quarter. However, it was too little too late for the Bears as the clock expired in the fourth, and the deficit was insurmountable.

“In that fourth quarter, we can’t let that happen,” Grgurevic said. “We just had a mental block and they got a few goals, which we shouldn’t have let but except for that, it was a great game by us.”

Sixth-year Head Coach Marko Pintaric shared similar thoughts after the game about his team’s mental lapse in the fourth quarter. 

“Once you mentally lose your focus, you’re giving the confidence to [the] opposite team … I think that’s the only thing that we should [have done] better this game,” Pintaric said. “Everything else was great. I really liked the defense, the way they played defensively, executing a plan that we were practicing for Cal.”

While USC allowed five goals in the fourth, it still had a strong showing on defense. The Trojans only allowed one goal to Cal’s leading scorer, senior attacker Max Casabella. A big part of USC’s admirable defensive effort was led by redshirt sophomore goalie Bernardo Herzer, who racked up nine saves in the net. 

USC will look to build off this huge win against unranked Westcliff University (6-11, 0-0 Cal Pac) and Loyola Marymount University (8-6, 0-0 WCC) in back-to-back games at the Burns Aquatics Center at LMU on Friday.