Courtesy: USC Athletics
BERKELEY, CALIF. — The No. 3 USC men’s water polo team scored five straight goals out of the gates and dug in defensively to take control of things in an eventual 17-9 win over No. 12 UC Davis behind 14 different Trojan scorers. The win lifted USC to 8-0 on the year, and built some key momentum in the Trojans’ trip to Berkeley for the Overnght MPSF Invitational.
Five different Trojans scored in USC’s quick 5-0 lead, and then Stefan Brankovic delivered his second to answer the Aggies’ first goal of the day. That has USC up 6-1 at the close of the first period. Brankovic recorded his first career hat trick in finishing off a pass from Zach Bettino to make it 7-2 USC in the second frame, and then USC struck out on a four-goal scoring surge that spanned halftime. Andrej Grgurevic, Luke Nelson and Reed Stemler helped USC out ahead 10-2 at halftime, and then Max Miller crushed a goal out of set to open the second half for the Trojans.
The Aggies found some offense in the second half, but USC stayed right in stride. A missile strike from Luka Brnetic built a 14-8 USC lead entering the fourth, where Charles Mills checked into the cage to spell Bernardo Herzer. By the final buzzer, USC had three new scorers on the board, as Bettino, Jack Vort and Ben Mirisch each struck for the Trojan cause to round out a final 17-9 USC victory.
NOTABLE:
– WIth a goal today, Robert López Duart continues to lead USC in scoring, now with 1314goals.
– With three goals today, Stefan Brankovic set a new career high.
– With another goal today, Jack Martin has scored at least once in every game this season for USC.
– With 14 different scorers today, USC has had at least 10 scorers in every game this season.
NEXT: USC has two more group play games on tap tomorrow (Sept. 21) in Berkeley. At 11:30 a.m., the Trojans face No. 10 Long Beach State at Legends Aquatic Center before turning to take on No. 2 Stanford at 4:30 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex. A winning day tomorrow would put USC into Sunday’s Overnght MPSF Invitational championship game.
#3 USC 17, #12 UC Davis 9
Friday, Sept. 20 | Spieker Aquatics Complex (Berkeley, Calif.)
USC 6 – 4 – 4 – 3 = 17
UCD 1 – 1 – 3 – 4 = 9
SCORING:
USC — Stefan Brankovic 3, Luke Nelson 2, Robert López Duart, Carson Kranz, Connor Cohen, Jack Martin, Andrej Grgurevic, Reed Stemler, Max Miller, Jake Carter, Luka Brnetic, Zach Bettino, Jack Vort, Ben Mirisch.
UCD — Aleix Aznar Beltran 2, Gabe Bensen 2, Andrew Hitchcock, Will Nomura, Holden Neach, William Fosselman, Oleg Shatskikh.
SAVES: Bernardo Herzer (USC) 5 [3 periods], Charles Mills (USC) 2 [4th period], Baxter Chelson (UCD) 9.
