2012 Men's Water Polo
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USC • USC • USC • USC • USC • USC • USC • USC • USC • USC • USC • USC • University of Southern California 2012 Men’s Water Polo USC Sports Information 3501 Watt Way • Heritage Hall 103 • Los Angeles, CA 90089 Phone: (213) 740-8480 • FAX: (213) 740-7584 Water Polo Sports Information Director: Darcy Couch • email: [email protected] Release #11 — Nov. 14, 2012 Undefeated USC Hosts Crosstown Splashdown The nation’s top two teams tangle on TV as No. 1 USC faces No. 2 UCLA on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. THIS WEEK @USCWaterPolo 2012 SCHEDULE/RESULTS For the USC men’s water polo team, Saturday’s clash with crosstown rival UCLA is about more than brag- Date Opponent Time/Result ging rights. More is at stake, even, than keeping the Trojans’ undefeated 2012 record intact. No, Saturday’s UCLA Invitational prize is the top seed in the coming MPSF Tournament. A win would secure it for the top-ranked Trojans, Sept. 1 &La Verne W 24-3 and a win here could well be the key to securing a spot at the NCAA Championships, where USC aims to &Pomona-Pitzer W 20-3 pursue a fifth straight national championship. Now, USC (23-0, 7-0 MPSF) plays host to rival No. 2 UCLA Sept. 2 &Chapman W 21-4 (24-2, 6-0) at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday (Nov. 17) at McDonald’s Swim Stadium for the Trojans’ regular-season Sept. 8 #17 CAL BAPTIST W 13-4 finale. The match will be televised by Pac-12 Networks with Chris Dorst and Jim Watson on the call. NorCal Tournament (hosted by Stanford) RANKINGS Sept. 15 ^Pomona-Pitzer W 22-1 USC opened 2012 as the No. 1 team in the land -- deference to the Trojans’ historic four straight NCAA titles ^#8 Pepperdine W 9-4 -- and remains there as teams enter the 12th week of 2012 competition. UCLA is ranked No. 2 this week. Sept. 16 ^#4 Stanford W 10-9 (OT) HOME WATERS ^#2 UCLA W 7-6 The Trojans have the chance to put on a true championship show for its USC fan base this year, as both Sept. 23 #4 CALIFORNIA * (ESPNU) W 7-6 the 2012 MPSF Tournament and the 2012 NCAA Championships will be held on the USC campus. McDon- Sept. 28 #16 PRINCETON W 22-5 ald’s Swim Stadium — which is due to begin transformation into the Uytengsu Aquatics Center as soon as SoCal Tournament (hosted by UC Santa Barbara) the national championship trophy is hoisted in the air— will be the site of both postseason tournaments Sept. 29 %#19 St. Francis W 15-4 in 2012. Tickets are on sale for both events now. Visit http://www.usctrojans.com/tickets/champ-and- %#8 Pacific W 9-4 postseason.html to join the fun to come! Sept. 30 %#5 UC Irvine W 10-5 SCOUTING UCLA %#6 UC Santa Barbara W 14-5 The Bruins are 24-2 overall and 6-0 in MPSF play with two games left in their regular season — USC on Oct. 6 at #5 Stanford * (P12) W 9-6 Saturday and UC Irvine on Sunday. Aside from a 7-6 loss to USC on Sept. 16, UCLA’s only other loss to Oct. 13 at #9 Loyola Marymount W 13-6 date was an 11-10 upset by UC Santa Barbara. Josh Samuels is UCLA’s top scorer with 2.4 goals per game. Oct. 19 at #10 Long Beach State * W 13-7 Goalie Matt Rapacz is averaging 9.2 saves and 6.1 goals-against per game. USC is 61-45-1 all-time against Oct. 25 at #8 UC Irvine * W 18-7 UCLA with wins in the past two meetings. The Trojans beat the Bruins 7-6 earlier this year in the NorCal Oct. 27 #7 PACIFIC * W 16-6 Tournament championship game. Before that, USC had beaten UCLA 7-4 in the 2011 NCAA Champion- ship match. The Bruins’ last win was a 10-9 sudden-victory win over the Trojans in the 2011 MPSF Tourna- CAL LUTHERAN W 21-9 ment title match at UCLA. Nov. 3 #5 UC SANTA BARBARA * W 12-7 Nov. 10 CONCORDIA W 19-4 LAST WEEK Nov. 11 at #4 Pepperdine * W 16-5 USC stretched its undefeated 2012 record out to 23-0 with one nonconference and one MPSF win last Nov. 17 #2 UCLA * (P12) 4:30 p.m. week. In a 19-4 win over Concordia, junior Nikola Vavic scored nine goals — the most by a Trojan in a single game on record. Ely Bonilla manned the cage for that victory and made eight saves to back up the MPSF Tournament (McDonald’s Swim Stadium) stingy USC defense. The next day, the Trojans took a trip to Malibu to face No. 4 Pepperdine. USC shut Nov. 23 $TBD TBD out the Waves in the first half of play while building up a 10-0 halftime lead on the way to a final victory Nov. 24 $TBD TBD of 16-5. James Clark was the man capped up in goal for that one, also hauling in eight saves. After hig big Nov. 25 $TBD TBD day against Concordia, Vavic kept clicking and slipped in a hat trick against Pepperdine, matched by three NCAA Tournament (McDonald’s Swim Stadium) apiece from teammates Kostas Genidounias and Michael Rosenthal. With the 12-goal weekend, Vavic Dec. 1 !TBD TBD leaped up the USC all-time ladders. He’s now at No. 5 all-time in career scoring with 162 goals, thanks to Dec. 2 !TBD TBD this season’s 72 goals and counting, good for the No. 4 slot all-time in single-season scoring. KINGS OF SOCAL Home games in BOLD CAPS (at McDonald’s Swim Stadium) * MPSF game USC was wholly dominant at the 2012 SoCal Tournament, while the nation’s other top-ranked teams fal- & UCLA Invitational (Westwood, Calif.) tered. The top seed in the tourney, Trojans opened with a 15-4 win over St. Francis before posting a 9-4 win ^ NorCal Tourn. (hosted by Stanford) over Pacific during group play. That put USC in the semifinals, where the Trojans faced No. 5 UC Irvine after % SoCal Tourn. (hosted by UC Santa Barbara) $ MPSF Tourn. (hosted by USC) (ESPNU) = televised by ESPNU the Anteaters had upset No. 4 California in their group match. The Trojans dispatched UC Irvine with a 10-5 ! NCAA Champs (hosted by USC) (P12) = televised by Pac-12 Networks win to take a spot in the title match. That’s where USC squared off against tournament host UC Santa Bar- bara, which had dealt out back-to-back upsets in beating No. 3 Stanford in group play and then topping No. 2012 Men’s Collegiate Top-10 2 UCLA in the semifinals. The Trojans refused to be a third upset for the Gauchos, as Nikola Vavic plugged (Nov. 14) in the first three goals of the game for USC on his way to a career-high six as USC pounded UCSB 14-5 to Rank School Previous Rank Points with the championship. It was USC’s ninth SoCal Tournament title in the past decade. Vavic was USC’s top 1. USC 1 100 scorer in the tournament with 14 goals, followed closely by Kostas Genidounias with 11. Goalies James 2. UCLA 2 95 Clark and Ely Bonilla shared time in the cage. Clark accumulated 15 saves with eight goals against in seven 3. Stanford 3 90 periods of work, and Bonilla gathered 29 saves and allowed 10 goals in nine periods between the pipes. 4. California 4t 85 THAT’S THREE 5. Pacific 7 81 In the Trojans’ fifth major tournament appearance in Northern California, USC brought home yet another 6. Long Beach State 8 73 title in rolling up its third straight NorCal Tournament championship at Stanford. The three NorCal crowns 7. UC Santa Barbara 4t 70 go along with the Trojans’ two latest NCAA Championships also won up north in the past two years. For 8. Pepperdine 4t 69 this 2012 edition of the NorCal Tournament, USC opened with a near-shutout of Pomona-Pitzer as Trojan 9. UC Irvine 9 58 newcomer James Clark capped up in goal for the first time and hauled in 10 saves in his debut. He would 10. UC San Diego 10 52 help anchor a 22-1 win for USC while 13 different Trojans scored goals at the other end, led by hat tricks — more — 2012 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MEN’S WATER POLO from Kostas Genidounias and Nikola Vavic. The next tenure at Troy, Vavic has a winning record against all bracket game of the day put USC up against No. 8 Pep- opponents on the men’s side, and the win in the Sept. 2012 AWARDS perdine. Ely Bonilla manned the cage in that one, set- 23 clash with Cal improved his personal record against ting his career high with 12 saves as the Trojans topped the Bears to 36-12. NCAA.com the Waves 9-4 thanks in part to four goals from Vavic. SPREAD OFFENSE Players to Watch: Solidly set up for a semifinal spot against host Stanford, As USC works into the home stretch of the 2012 season, the Trojans emerged victorious in overtime against the 19 different Trojans have scored goals — just two away James Clark Cardinal, getting an OT goal from Jeremy Davie while from last year’s grand total of 21 scorers. Led by 72 Nikola Vavic the Trojan defense — again with Bonilla in the cage for from Nikola Vavic and 54 from Kostas Genidounias to 12 more saves — shut down Stanford in overtime for a date, USC is flexing some serious scoring muscle in av- MPSF Player of the Week: 10-9 win.