Courtesy: USC Athletics
LOS ANGELES — The No. 3 USC men’s water polo team manufactured an eight-goal scoring surge to put No. 4 Pepperdine out of reach in home waters today, working to a 16-7 win over the visiting Waves at Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The Trojan defense silenced Pepperdine for over 16 minutes of action while the offense clicked off a run that left no doubt, keeping USC undefeated on the year at 7-0 while handing the Waves their first loss.
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USC got behind 2-1 early but responded with three straight scores from Max Miller, Connor Cohen and Zach Bettino. The Waves got one back with a 6-on-5 before the close of the first, and then USC’s defense took over. USC squashed a late Pepperdine power play, then saw Luka Brnetic put up a field block to preserve that one-goal margin entering the second. There, USC goalie Bernardo Herzer set the tone with a booming save followed by a stop against a Pepperdine 5-meter penalty shot. While Herzer and his defense stayed stingy, USC capitalized on the offensive end. Miller worked his way to a hat trick to spark what would grow to an eight-goal USC rally that spanned halftime. Bettino’s second of the day came in that second frame, along with back-to-back blasts from Robert López Duart to get USC ahead 9-3 at the end of the half.
Stefan Brankovic went big for an interception to squelch another Pepperdine power play, and soon after he’d find Jack Martin at the post for a slam that kept USC’s offense in full effect. Evan Ausmus and Jake Carter joined the scoresheet next for USC, and the Trojans were enjoying a 12-3 advantage when Pepperdine finally broke its silence with two goals. An opportunistic finish from Tom McGuire made it 13-5 USC entering the fourth, and USC stayed the course from there. Brankovic and Cohen each stuck their second goals of the day to help USC ahead 15-7. After nine saves in the cage, Herzer gave way to Charles Mills with 3:30 to to, and the redshirt freshman made four saves with no goals allowed to anchor a USC win that was topped off by a Luke Nelson 5-meter penalty score and one final steal from Aidan Wattson to wrap the 16-7 Trojan victory.
NOTABLE:
– With two goals today, Robert López Duart continues to lead USC in scoring, now with 13 goals.
– López Duart also now has recorded a team-leading five multiple-goal games this season.
– With a goal today, Jack Martin has scored at least once in every game this season for USC.
– With two goals today, Connor Cohen recorded his first multiple-goal game as a Trojan.
– With 10 different scorers today, USC has had at least 10 scorers in every game this season.
NEXT: USC’s next action takes the Trojans to Berkeley, Calif., for action at the Mountain Pacific Invitational, running Sept. 21-23 at Cal’s Spieker Aquatics Complex.
#3 USC 16, #4 Pepperdine 7
Saturday, Sept. 15 | Uytengsu Aquatics Center (Los Angeles, Calif.)
USC 4 – 5 – 4 – 3 = 16
PEP 3 – 0 – 2 – 2 = 7
SCORING:
- USC — Max Miller 3, Zach Bettino 2, Stefan Brankovic 2, Robert López Duart 2, Connor Cohen 2, Jack Martin, Evan Ausmus, Jake Carter, Tom McGuire, Luke Nelson.
- PEP — Adam Csapo 5, Christian Hosea, Conor Brough.
SAVES: Bernardo Herzer (USC) 9, Charles Mills (USC) 4, Max Smirnov (PEP) 9.
