Men's Water Polo Travels To Berkeley For MPSF Championships

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Men's Water Polo Travels To Berkeley For MPSF Championships
Trojans must win tournament to advance to NCAA Championships next week.

Nov. 21, 2001

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LOS ANGELES - The No. 4 USC men's water polo team (11-6 overall, 6-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for third place) competes this week at the MPSF Championships (Nov. 22-24) in Berkeley. The Trojans earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament and will face No. 6 seed California in the first-round match on Thursday (Nov. 22) at 12:30 p.m. USC needs to win the tournament to advance to the NCAA Championships (Dec. 1-2) in Palo Alto.

MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS - Game results and action photos of the 2001 MPSF Championships will be available online at http://66.111.222.18/MPSFMens2001/index.html. Links will also be available on the MPSF website (www.mpsports.org) and the United States Water Polo website (www.usawaterpolo.com).

LAST WEEK - The Trojans lost to No. 2 UCLA at home on Saturday (Nov. 17), 6-5, in non-conference action. USC rallied from a three-goal deficit to tie the match at 5-5 late in the third, but UCLA won the match with the only goal of the fourth period on a power-play situation. It was the third time this season that UCLA has defeated USC.

JOVAN VAVIC - In his seventh season as the head coach of the men's water polo program, Jovan Vavic has built the Trojans into a national power, which culminated with the 1998 national championship. Vavic came to USC as an assistant men's water polo coach to John Williams in 1992 and was named co-head coach in 1995. He took over the reins as head coach in 1999 when Williams retired. Vavic is also the head coach for the USC women's water polo team. During the 1998-99 season, Vavic did something no other coach has accomplished as his teams won three national championships: besides capturing the 1998 men's and 1999 women's titles, his 1999 men's club team won the Men's Senior National Club Championship. Vavic has a 30-year water polo career. In addition to his coaching experience, he was a member of a Yugoslavian club team that was a four-time junior national champion (1973-74-76-77). Jovan also played for the Monte-Negro State team, which won the Yugoslav Nationals in 1977 and 1978.

VAVIC'S CAREER RECORD - Jovan Vavic has a 145-34 (.810) record in seven years with the Trojans.

IVAN BABIC - Senior utility Ivan Babic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) is a three-time All-American for the Trojans and is tied for fourth on the team this year with 12 goals. Babic is now tied for 14th on USC's all-time goal-scoring list with 113 career goals with Jason Klingsberg (1989-92). He led the team last year with 40 goals and earned All-MPSF second team honors. He scored a career-high six goals in the 2000 NCAA Tournament third-place match as USC defeated Navy, 15-9.

DANIEL LONTAY - Senior utility Daniel Lontay (Budapest, Hungary) leads the team this season with 31 goals and finished tied for fourth on the Trojans last season in scoring with 30 goals. This year, he scored the game-winning goal on Sept. 9 with less than half a second remaining in a 5-4 win at No. 9 UC Santa Barbara and scored six goals on Nov. 10 in a 9-8 overtime win at California.

PREDRAG DAMJANOV - Sophomore two-meter Predrag Damjanov (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) has had a strong season for the Trojans and is second on the team with 24 goals. Damjanov earned the season's first MPSF/Mikasa Player of the Week honor after recording four goals in two matches against No. 7 Long Beach State on Sept. 8 and at No. 9 UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 9. He scored the go-ahead goal in the second overtime period in a 7-6 decision against Long Beach State and scored the game-tying goal in the 5-4 win against UCSB. He recorded the tying goal with minutes remaining in regulation and the game-winning goal in triple overtime in a 9-8 win on Sept. 22 against No. 5 Pepperdine. In his freshman season, Damjanov finished third on the team in scoring with 31 goals and earned first team All-NCAA Tournament honors.

BOZIDAR DAMJANOVIC - Sophomore Bozidar Damjanovic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) is the Trojans' No. 1 goalie. After recording 83 saves in 16 matches as a freshman last year, Damjanovic has recorded 114 saves this season.