{"id":340650,"date":"2018-12-03T12:51:57","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T19:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=340650"},"modified":"2018-12-03T15:20:33","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T22:20:33","slug":"fast-start-tense-finish-to-2018-mens-water-polo-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/fast-start-tense-finish-to-2018-mens-water-polo-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast Start, Tense Finish to 2018 Men\u2019s Water Polo Championship Gives USC 10th NCAA Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor<\/em><\/p>\n

USC blitzed Stanford for five goals in the first period, then had to hang on for dear life as a desperate Cardinal rally fell short, making the Trojans 14-12 victors in the 2018 Men\u2019s Water Polo Tournament final at Avery Aquatic Center.<\/p>\n

\"ncaa-logo-50years\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are going to be games like this where everything goes your way,\u201d USC Head Coach Jovan Vavic<\/strong>\u00a0said in a press conference immediately following the match. \u201cWe started the game hot and sometimes that\u2019s all it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The triumph was much appreciated by all Trojan faithful, but none more so than Vavic, who has steered his team into a remarkable 14-straight title matches. Southern Cal had dropped the last four of those title tilts, including a tough home loss to arch-rival UCLA in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe waited a long time for this one\u2014four years has been a very long time for us and our seniors.\u201d Vavic said, flanked by senior Zach D\u2019Sa<\/strong> and tournament MVP Jacob Mercep<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

With the win, Vavic now has ten men\u2019s titles to add to his collection of six women\u2019s crowns\u2014including last spring, when the Trojan women won<\/a> the 2018 title, also over Stanford\u2014making him the most-decorated coach in NCAA water polo history.<\/p>\n

Lavishing praise on his team by identifying a \u201ccomplete team effort\u201d in which nine different players scored, the veteran coach pushed back on only selecting lefty Mercep as the finals MVP.<\/p>\n

\u201cJacob was the MVP but I think Nic was the MVP as well,\u201d he said, putting in a plug for Nic Porter<\/strong>, his freshman goalie who recorded 12 saves, many of the spectacular variety.<\/p>\n

\"mercep-ncaa-dec18\"

2018 NCAA MVP Jacob Mercep. Photo Courtesy: Catharyn Hayne<\/p><\/div>\n

Mercep was an obvious choice; in additional to his five goals Sunday, he scored an important goal in USC\u2019s win<\/a> over UCLA in Saturday\u2019s semifinal. But Porter keyed a Trojan defense that on consecutive days out-muscled the Bruins and then absolutely baffled the Cardinal until late in the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, individual awards don\u2019t mean too much to me,\u201d the young Australian, said, then\u2014articulating the thoughts of all his teammates\u2014added: \u201cI\u2019m really happy that as a complete team, we were able to get that national championship for them,\u201d referring to seniors D\u2019Sa and Danny Leong<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

[Watch Danny Leong’s speech at 2018 NCAA Men’s Tournament banquet]<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Less than two minutes into the match, Mercep launched the Trojan scoring onslaught. As his teammates piled up the goals, Porter closed the door on the Cardinal time and again until late in the match, when an eight-goal USC advantage was whittled down to two, and the visitors had to withstood some tense moments.<\/p>\n

Stanford’s Ben Hallock<\/strong> scored five times, while Bennet Williams<\/strong> chipped in with three goals. It was Stanford’s burly center who was in the middle of the match\u2019s only dramatic moment. Down three scores with a minute and a half remaining, the Cardinal were awarded a penalty shot that\u2014if successful\u2014might give be enough time for the hosts to catch up.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it was the moment or\u2014more likely\u2014a slippery ball, but Hallock flubbed the shot, and Stanford\u2019s last gasp for a comeback were dashed.<\/p>\n

Despite an unsightly start, Stanford Head Coach John Vargas<\/strong>\u00a0complimented his players’ resilience, a trait of the first Cardinal squad to play for a national championship since 2008, also a loss to the Trojans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe dug ourselves a big hole and the character that these guys showed of not giving up and coming back,”\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n

The final result was not indicative of just how dominant USC was in the early going. Despite being whistled for four exclusions in the opening period and 10 in the match\u2019s first 16 minutes, the Trojans burst out to 5-0 and 7-1 leads. The Cardinal were a dismal one for 10 in the first half with the man advantage. USC\u2019s ability to shut down Stanford\u2019s power play was shocking, and ultimately proved fatal to the Cardinal\u2019s title hopes.<\/p>\n

\"porter-usc-nov18\"

USC’s Nic Porter; he went from unknown freshman to Trojan hero. Photo Courtesy: Catharyn Hayne<\/p><\/div>\n

That, and a focus on stopping Hallock, voted 2018 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we did today was to stop the ball from going to him,\u201d Vavic said of the Stanford star. \u201cWhen you have a player like that you always have a shot at winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The USC strategy was wildly successful; Hallock did not get his first goal until a minute into the third period; by then the Trojans led by seven. They would extended their advantage to 11-3 late in the third period before the Cardinal rallied, scoring eight times in less than eight minutes.<\/p>\n

But, it was not enough.<\/p>\n

For USC, the title caps a season that saw Vavic\u2019s team dominate for most of the season\u2014at one point the Trojans were 28-1 and had scored twice as many goals as their opponents\u2014then stumbled badly at the MPSF tournament, losing to Cal and UCLA to finish fourth, jeopardizing an\u00a0NCAA at-large berth.<\/p>\n

\"avery-rain-ncaa-dec18\"

Stanford faithful will need to wait another day for a men’s title. Photo Courtesy: Catharyn Hayne<\/p><\/div>\n

Luckily, their track record was sufficient to merit a second seed in this year\u2019s tournament, and wins Saturday over #4 seed UCLA and over top-seeded Stanford proved this year\u2019s Trojans worthy of being enshrined with other SC winners, including the classes of 2011, 2012 and 2013 that each won NCAA titles all four years, part of a remarkable streak of six-straight national champions.<\/p>\n

Newcomer Mercep\u2014who this time last year was still on the San Jose State roster \u2014explained just how much Vavic and the USC way changes everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love every part of this life being a Trojan\u2014waking up in the morning, going to practice with these guys.\u201d the sensational sophomore said. \u201cThese are not just regular teammates, these are all my brothers\u2014who will be friends for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor USC blitzed Stanford for five goals in the first period, then had to hang on for dear life as a desperate Cardinal rally fell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4875,"featured_media":340656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[70664,9894,47734,72685,68448,72687,64874,479,60192,1168,61248,71291,60272,63503,64930],"class_list":["post-340650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-water-polo","tag-2018-ncaa-mens-water-polo-tournament","tag-avery-aquatic-center","tag-ben-hallock","tag-bennett-williams","tag-catharyn-hayne","tag-danny-leong","tag-jacob-mercep","tag-john-vargas","tag-michael-randazzo","tag-mountain-pacific-sports-federation","tag-mpsf","tag-nic-porter","tag-stanford-water-polo","tag-usc-water-polo","tag-zach-dsa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nFast Start, Tense Finish to 2018 Men\u2019s Water Polo Championship Gives USC 10th NCAA Title - 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