Sept. 30, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK: USC will take its second look at Cal on the year in the teams' first MPSF clash this season. The No. 3 Trojans (9-1) travel up to Berkeley for this week's face-off with the No. 4 Bears (8-2), playing at 12 p.m. on Saturday (Oct. 3) at Spieker Aquatic Center just hours before the USC football team takes on Cal at Memorial Stadium. The following day, USC will head over to Stockton to play No. 16 Pacific (10-5) in another MPSF match at 12 p.m. on Sunday (Oct. 4).

RANKINGS: USC was bumped out of the No. 1 spot in which it sat for the first three weeks of the 2009 season last week, and the Trojans remain ranked No. 3 in the nation this week. Cal ranks No. 4, and Pacific is No. 16.

SCOUTING CAL: The No. 4 Bears are 8-2 overall, with losses to Stanford and then the Trojans in the third-place game at the NorCal Tournament weeks ago. Ivan Rackov and Cory Nasoff are Cal's top scorers with 23 and 21 goals each, respectively. Goalies Justin Parsons and Will Topping have Cal allowing 6.30 goals-against per game. USC is 46-51-2 all-time against Cal, including an 8-6 win over the Bears earlier this season.

SCOUTING PACIFIC: The No. 16 Tigers are 10-5 on the way into this weekend. Tom Konig is Pacific's leading scorer, averaging 2.3 goals per game with 35 total on the year. Goalie David Andrus is averaging 4.8 saves and 5.0 goals-against per game. USC is 35-7 all-time against Pacific, having won the past eight games against the Tigers including 10-2 and 12-6 wins last season.

LAST WEEK: USC took a winning start to MPSF competition last week as the Trojans took down visiting Pepperdine 14-8 at McDonald's Swim Stadium. Hat tricks from Justin Rappel and Kyle Sterling carried the Trojans into control against the No. 8 Waves to lift USC to a 9-1 overall record and 1-0 MPSF mark. The Trojans got a leg up on their 34th straight home victory and first of the year with a 3-0 jump on the Waves, and wound up with eight different scorers in the win to go along with goalie Joel Dennerley's eight saves in the cage. For his career-high three-goal effort and an added assist, Sterling picked up his first career conference honor as the MPSF Player of the Week.

HOT START: Sophomore Peter Kurzeka grabbed his first career honor as an MPSF Player of the Week after leading USC in scoring with eight goals as the Trojans successfully defended their title at the Triton Invitational. Kurzeka served up three multiple-goal games at the tournament, including two goals in the championship win over #7 UC Santa Barbara. He also had two goals vs. #6 LMU to help push USC into the final, making it a four-goal day on the last day of competition in San Diego. On day one, he had one goal vs. Pomona-Pitzer and a hat trick against #19 Air Force.

CENTURY CLUB AND CLIMBING: USC seniors J.W. Krumpholz and Matt Sagehorn have not only chiseled their place in USC history as national champions and All-Americans, the two Trojans also have passed the century mark in career goals. Both recently busted into the all-time top-20, with Sagehorn now at No. 18 with 114, and Krumpholz just a step behind at No. 19 with 113. Early this year, both players leapt over current assistant coach Marko Pintaric's total of 103.

BETTER BALANCE: For an example of the Trojans' widespread scoring prowess, look no further than USC's 8-6 win over Cal at the NorCal Tournament. Eight different Trojans scored in the game -- one apiece for a USC squad that has seen 16 players score on the year and six different Trojans holding at least 10 goals so far. No one has scored more than three goals in a single game, although six different Trojans can attest to at least one hat trick to date.

NUMBERS GAME: Not only did the Trojans tack up big digits in 2008 -- a perfect 29-0 record; head coach Jovan Vavic's 300th career victory; and USC's fourth NCAA Championship trophy -- the numbers rolling in for the 2009 season have the Trojans leveling their collective gaze on a feat never before achieved by the program: back-to-back national championships. The formula for success is there. Six starters return from last year's championship team. Five of them are All-Americans. Four were NCAA All-Tournament Team selections. Almost 80 percent of last season's scoring production is back. Both the MPSF Player of the Year and the Newcomer of the Year return to the water. And Coach of the Year Jovan Vavic is back on the deck to lead them.

SENIOR STANDOUTS: USC's vaunted senior class includes an overpowering unit of six players who entered as freshmen in 2006 and have experienced only NCAA and MPSF finals since coming to Troy. J.W. Krumpholz may headline the group as the 2008 Peter J. Cutino Award winner, but fellow seniors Anthony Artukovich, Justin Rappel, Matt Sagehorn, Nico Sardo and Jordan Thompson have also been a key part of that winning formula. The addition of transfer Shea Buckner added another depth charge to that class, rounding out arguably the most talented set of seniors ever to cap up at Troy. Already this season, the group has generated over half USC's scoring with a combined 71 goals between the seven senior field players.

DEFENSE IS BEST: While the Trojans do return almost 80 percent of last year's scoring production, the name of the game for USC teams has always been defense. That, by the way, is also in very, very good shape for 2009. True, there's some size missing with the graduation of All-Americans Arjan Ligtenberg and Jovan Vranes. But Buckner is an agile and powerful presence on defense, and junior Devon Borisoff and sophomore Matt Burton also bring their deft defense back to the hole along with newcomer Zayne Belal. And don't forget, USC goalie Joel Dennerley still has his wall up in the cage. The All-American and MPSF Newcomer of the Year as a freshman last season is all lined up to anchor that still-dominant Trojan defense. Senior Brett Giery will also make a stand in goal for the Trojans, joined in the USC goalkeeping corps by Kevin Coyne, Jimmy Friedrich and Will Simon. Right now, the Trojan defense has allowed just 47 goals in nine games for a 4.7 goals-against average -- best in the MPSF once again.

OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT: Seniors Rappel, Sagehorn, Buckner and Krumpholz, junior Kyle Sterling and sophomore Peter Kurzeka all scored at least 20 goals for the Trojans in 2008, with similarly powerful production in the cards for that group once again. Krumpholz and fellow senior Jordan Thompson are set up to tag-team at two-meters along with new addition Brian Boswell, while Buckner, Rappel, Sagehorn, Sterling and Kurzeka open up the field as sharpshooters on the perimeter side-by-side with experienced senior drivers Artukovich and Sardo, speedy junior Borisoff and newer additions Kyle Wootten and Michael Rosenthal.

HOME POOL ADVANTAGE: USC finished off the 2008 home season holding a 33-game win streak in the home waters of McDonald's Swim Stadium, having gone undefeated at home for four straight seasons. That count is up to 34 after last week's win over Pepperdine as the Trojans go in pursuit of its fifth consecutive perfect run at home.

2008 RECAP: The 2008 Trojans blasted their way to an undefeated 29-0 season and USC's fourth NCAA championship last season. USC also captured back-to-back MPSF championships and the Trojans' sixth overall MPSF crown en route to head coach Jovan Vavic's seventh MPSF Coach of the Year award and sixth National Coach of the Year honors. The Trojans finished out the program's first undefeated overall year since a 5-0 final record in 1944. USC is the first team in 16 years to go undefeated through an entire season. For the fourth consecutive season, USC led the nation in team defense (4.76 gapg), while the offense saw 20 different players score on the year, averaging a total of 11.7 gpg. All told, USC outscored its opponents 340-138 in 2008. Seven Trojans were named All-Americans, including 2008 Cutino Award winner J.W. Krumpholz.