In the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational at Stanford, USC battled hard and earned a fourth-place finish over the weekend.
A mix of new additions and veterans continued to shine in the water. Graduate driver Massimo Di Martire collected 11 goals over the weekend, giving the Italian newcomer a team-leading 32 strikes on the season. Redshirt senior 2-meter Jake Ehrhardt collected eight of his own, moving to 14th all-time in goals for USC.
“[Di Martire] is still adjusting to our style of play, but he’s done a great job for us so far,” head coach Marko Pintaric said. “And as for [Ehrhardt], his leadership has been great so far for this team. He’s a big reason why we’ve won so many games.”
USC began the tournament by knocking out No. 16 Fordham with a 17-8 victory. Di Martire and redshirt senior driver Ashworth Molthen both contributed three goals in the winning effort, and four others scored two goals each.
In the cage, three goalies combined for six saves, with redshirt sophomore Blake Jackson getting the lion’s share with four.
Fordham struck first with a goal by sophomore 2-meter Jacopo Parrella in the first quarter, but USC quickly erased the deficit with strikes from sophomore 2-meter Luka Brnetic and freshman utility Andrej Grgurevic. By the end of the quarter, USC already had a comfortable 4-1 lead, and the Trojans never trailed after their early 1-0 deficit.
“It was a good win for us,” Pintaric said. “The offense was clicking on all cylinders, and we had some really good ball movement. But we needed to tighten up on defense.”
The next day, the Trojans followed up their blowout against Fordham with a much more difficult match against UC Davis.
The battle between the fifth and sixth-ranked teams began with both offenses exploding for five goals each in the first quarter. Out of eight attempts, USC only missed the cage three times.
But in the second quarter, both defenses turned the game into a battle of attrition, with Di Martire’s last-minute strike being the only point. Redshirt junior goalie Garrett Allen registered four of his five blocks in this quarter alone.
Di Martire’s critical blow was the first of many in a decisive 4-1 scoring run by USC that extended into the third quarter.
The Aggies attempted a last-ditch effort in the final frames, pulling the game within a goal’s reach. But Molthen’s dagger with three minutes remaining put the Trojans up 11-9, a score that held for the rest of the game.
USC’s prize for defeating the Aggies was to take on No. 2 UCLA in a rematch of the Triton Invitational Championship Match.
In a game that featured 10 ties and four lead changes, the battle between the Bruins and the Trojans was game-of-the-year material. Neither team held a lead greater than two goals.
Ehrhardt and senior driver Chris Sturtevant started the scoring for USC, but the Trojans’ 2-0 lead quickly evaporated when the Bruins struck back for two of their own. Di Martire’s heave with 2:20 to go found the net and gave the Trojans a 3-2 lead. The Italian newcomer’s second goal of the match, a power play that put the Trojans up 5-4, was the last time that USC led for the rest of the game.
The Trojans tied the contest on several occasions, including a Di Martire strike that made the score 11-11 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. But back-to-back counters by the Bruins slammed the door on the Trojans.
Aside from scoring 13 goals, UCLA put immense pressure on the USC offense, forcing 11 turnovers on the Trojans, the highest number of errors USC has committed this season.
USC relied heavily on Ehrhardt and Di Martire in the losing effort. The senior and the graduate both had seven attempts on the cage, and both walked away with four successful strikes.
The 13-12 defeat marked the second time the Trojans have fallen to their crosstown-rival Bruins this season. USC will look for revenge when it plays at UCLA on Nov. 11.
On the third day, the California Golden Bears edged USC in an 11-10 thriller and handed the Trojans a fourth-place finish in the tournament.
Bears goalie Adrian Weinberg completely suppressed the Trojans in the first quarter as Cal jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. After that, Pintaric rallied the Trojans, who proceeded to score six goals in a back-and-forth second quarter.
A power-play goal by senior driver Marcus Longton put the Trojans ahead 10-8 in the third quarter. The strike extended his scoring streak to 14, making Longton the only Trojan to score in every game this season.
However, the Bears proved why they’re ranked No. 1 in the polls by scoring back-to-back goals to tie the match and then scoring on a power play to put Cal up 11-10. USC, meanwhile, could not muster a single score to force overtime.
The Bears successfully limited the Trojans’ usual top scorers, who were exhausted from playing so many minutes against the previous ranked opponents. Ehrhardt recorded zero goals on eight tries, Molthen went two-for-seven and Longton went one-for-seven. Out of 40 Trojan attempts, only 10 shots found the back of the net.
“We didn’t execute on defense, and our offense was sloppy in the third and fourth quarters,” Pintaric said of the matches against UCLA and Cal. “Good defense wins games.”
After the fourth-place finish, USC sits at an overall record of 10-4. The Trojans will travel to Santa Barbara to battle the Gauchos on Friday before returning home for a rematch against UC Irvine on Sunday.