No. 3 USC Men’s Water Polo Takes Second Place At Overnght MPSF Invitational

Courtesy: USC Athletics

BERKELEY, CALIF. — The No. 3 USC men’s water polo team wound up with its first loss of the season in taking a 12-9 defeat to top-ranked UCLA in the championship game at the Overnght MPSF Invitational in Berkeley, Calif.  The Trojans are now 10-1 overall on the year after an impressive run at the first major tournament competition of 2024.

USC put up a strong stand against the Bruins early, but UCLA made a 4-0 rally in the second quarter to pad out a lead. The Trojans would trail by as much as five goals in the third frame before heating up to force the issue in the fourth. Max Miller crushed a feed from Jack Vort to close out the third as a 9-5 margin.

To kick off the fourth, Zach Bettino passed to Luka Brnetic for a booming blast to get USC within three. An even score by the Bruins got the margin to four, prompting USC to pick up the pace again. Robert López Duart crossed to Vort for a ripper to make it 10-7 with 5:11 to go next. After an Andrej Grgurevic steal squashed a UCLA 6-on-5, Grgurevic would find Miller for his third of the day to put USC within two midway through the fourth. UCLA dug in and found an even score and then another power play score to put the Trojans back by four entering the final minute. There, Carson Kranz hit López Duart to have the final word for USC in a final 12-9 loss.

USC goalie Bernardo Herzer collected 11 saves for the Trojans, including a powerful stop against a Bruin 5-meter penalty shot. But the Bruins benefitted from an exclusion count that tipped against the Trojans 13-9.

NOTABLE:
– With another goal today, Robert López Duart continues to lead USC in scoring, now with 23 goals.
– With his five-goal outing vs. Stanford, López Duart set a new career high as a Trojan.
– With a game-high three goals, Max Miller recorded his sixth multiple-goal game of the season.
– López Duart, Miller, Jack Martin and Stefan Brankovic have each now scored in 10 of USC’s 11 games so far this season.
– Brancovic, López Duart and Miller each scored in all four of USC’s games at the Overnght MPSF Invite.
– López Duart was USC’s top scorer at the event with  10 goals, followed by nine from Miller.
– With 11 saves vs. UCLA, Bernardo Herzer recorded his third double-digit save outing of the season.

NEXT: USC returns home to Uytengsu Aquatics Center for the next three games, with the next clash coming this Friday (Sept. 27) against California Baptist at 5 p.m.

Overnght MPSF Invitational
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#1 UCLA 12, #3 USC 9
Sunday, Sept. 22 | Spieker Aquatics Complex (Berkeley, Calif.)
USC    1 – 3 – 1 – 4 = 9
UCLA  2 – 5 – 2 – 3 = 12

SCORING:
USC — Max Miller 3, Jack Martin 2, Stefan Brankovic, Luka Brnetic, Jack Vort, Robert López Duart.
UCLA — Frederico Jucá Carsalade 2, Nico Tierney 2, Makoto Kenney 2, Ben Larsen 2, Chase Dodd, Aaron Voggenthaler, Peter Castillo, Ryder Dodd.

SAVES: Bernardo Herzer (USC) 11, Garret Griggs (UCLA) 6.