Nov. 23, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. -- The top-seeded USC men's water polo team made a power move into the MPSF semifinals with a solid 17-9 victory over No. 8 seed UC Santa Barbara in today's opening game of the 2012 MPSF Tournament. USC senior Michael Rosenthal went big again for the Trojan cause, slamming home a career-high four goals to help keep USC undefeated on the year at 25-0.

After USC jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first frame in spreading the wealth among five different scorers. The Gauchos would get as close as three with a pair of Matt Gronow strikes that made it 6-3, prompting the Trojans to unleash a dominating eight-goal run that spanned into the second half of play. In a whistle-filled final three periods, there were plenty of exclusions and penalty shots at both ends. Still, USC proved the more productive down the stretch. After UCSB made it 7-4 midway through the second, that eight-goal blitz began. Rosenthal delivered a pair in the run, as did Mace Rapsey, and before the Gauchos could regroup they were in a 15-4 hold at the midpoint of the third frame.

USC's advantage ballooned to 12 when Kostas Genidounias got on the board with USC's two goals of the final frame, although UC Santa Barbara was able to generate the last four goals of the game to round out the score as a 17-9 Trojan victory.

USC now heads into the semifinals tomorrow (Nov. 24) with a 1:30 p.m. clash against either No. 4 seed Stanford or No. 5 seed Long Beach State.

Game 1 • 10 a.m. • Friday, Nov. 23, 2012
#1 USC 17, #8 UC Santa Barbara 9
UCSB 1 - 3 - 1 - 4 = 9
USC 5 - 7 - 3 - 2 = 17

SCORING:
UCSB - Derek Shoemaker 2, Matt Gronow 2, Bryce Miller 2, Eric Van de Mortel, Dylan Baliani, Nicholas Jordan.
USC - Michael Rosenthal 4, Kostas Genidounias 3, Jeremy Davie 2, Nikola Vavic 2, Matt Burton 2, Mace Rapsey 2, Zach Lucas, Rex Butler.

RECORDS:
UCSB (15-11)
USC (25-0)