USC Tops Cal In Tournament Final To Win MPSF Invitational

BERKELEY, CALIF. — The No. 2 USC men’s water polo team had the first and last words in a victorious effort in today’s MPSF Invitational title match, where the Trojans beat host No. 3 California 12-11 in an exciting final at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley. Ashworth Molthen broke ground on the offensive end to open things up, finishing with a team-high three goals for the Trojan cause. And goalie Nic Porter capped off an impressive performance in the cage with one final save to squash any Golden Bear hopes of forcing overtime. Porter would wind up with a whopping 14 saves in the championship win, which puts USC at 10-0 overall on the season.

The score was tied up seven times, with Cal holding one-goal leads on two occasions in the third frame before USC created some crucial breathing room in the fourth period. Cal had knotted things up at 8-8 early, but USC responded with a booming 6-on-5 finish from Carson Kranz off a feed from Jacob Mercep to go up 9-8. Then, Nic Porter stuffed a Cal 5-meter penalty shot to give the Trojans a huge lift.

Mercep catapulted a long-range strike through to make it 10-8, and then Porter notched another save against a Cal power play. On the attack again, Kranz found Jake Ehrhardt for a laser that gave USC its largest lead, up 11-8 with  3:45 to go. Cal would find a quick reply, only to see Hannes Daube get USC up on a 6-on-5 next.

He’d finish it off himself, taking a pass from Mercep and burying it to get USC ahead 12-9 with 3:05 on the clock. The Bears carved their deficit down to one less than a minute later, but the USC defense dug in for the final stretch. Two more Porter saves sandwiched a huge field block from Marcus Longton against a late Cal 6-on-5, and USC emerged victorious with the 12-11 decision.

MPSF INVITATIONAL (Berkeley, Calif.)

SAVES: Nic Porter (USC) 14, Adrian Weinberg (CAL) 5.

Courtesy: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – Seniors Jack Deely and Miles O’Brien-Schridde each registered four points and junior Nikolaos Papanikolaou earned a hat trick but the No. 3 Cal men’s water polo team fell to USC 12-11 on Sunday in the championship game of the MPSF Invitational at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Freshman Roberto Valera added a pair of goals for the Bears (13-1), who fell behind 12-9 with just over three minutes to play but staged a late comeback and had a chance to tie in the final minute.

The teams traded goals through the first three quarters before the Trojans reeled off three in a row to lead 11-8 with 3:45 left. After the teams traded goals, Deely converted on the power play with 2:39 left and Papanikolaou followed with his third of the game to make it 12-11 at the 2:13 mark of the fourth quarter. The Bears had a power play chance with 56 seconds left but couldn’t capitalize, and then got the ball back one last time but Deely’s shot in the final seconds was turned away by USC goalie Nic Porter.

Cal’s road to the championship game of the 14-team tournament included Saturday night’s 10-9 win over No. 1 UCLA. The Bears also defeated No. 18 Pomona Pitzer and No. 6 Long Beach State along the way.

Cal returns to action next weekend with road matches at No. 13 UC Irvine and No. 12 Pepperdine before getting a rematch at USC on Oct. 9.

Cal vs UCLA Recap

Courtesy: Cal Athletics

Cal vs Pomona-Pizter Recap

Courtesy: Cal Athletics