With No. 5 USC coming off a heavy loss to Cal and graduate driver Massimo Di Martire out for the game, redshirt senior 2-meter Jake Ehrhardt knew he had to step up and lead the Trojans to a victory against No. 9 Pepperdine.
He delivered for head coach Marko Pintaric by leading all players with four goals in a 13-11 victory over the Waves at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool. The potential Cutino Award finalist surpassed Blake Edwards for the 10th-most goals in program history with his 159th career goal.
“I’ve had an amazing time with this program, and my teammates have always been there to set me up for success,” Ehrhardt said.
In all, seven Trojans scored, including redshirt senior driver Ashworth Molthen who recorded six assists and four steals.
Junior driver Carson Kranz supported Ehrhardt’s effort with three strikes. Senior driver Marcus Longton scored in his 18th game of the season, the only Trojan this season to do so.
Graduate goalie Kyle McKenney was the only man in the Trojan’s cage for the entire match, blocking five of the Waves’ attempts.
Both defenses were tested early in a back-and-forth first quarter with five ties. The Trojans kicked off the match with Molthen firing a quick pass to Ehrhardt in the middle who rifled a shot past the outnumbered Waves to give the Trojans their first of four power-play goals.
Pepperdine rapidly seized the initiative back with consecutive goals from graduate attacker Dennis Blyashov and freshman attacker Adam Csapo.
After junior 2-meter Max Miller drew an exclusion, the Trojans played hot potato with the ball before Kranz lobbed the ball past redshirt sophomore goalie Justin Edward to tie the game at two apiece. Caspo responded by capitalizing on a power-play, recording his second goal.
Off the bench, sophomore driver Jake Carter jumped into the pool and proceeded to score the third goal for the Trojans with a strong pass from freshman utility Andrej Grgurevic.
Blyashov struck again, feeding a quick pass to sophomore 2-meter Matty Walsh who blasted a rocket from the middle to give the Waves a 4-3 advantage. Longton responded by flanking to the right of the Waves’ defense and skipping the ball into the net to tie the game.
A crucial steal by Grgurevic halted Pepperdine’s momentum. The Australian pushed the ball to Molthen who swam all the way to the two-meter line and scored up the middle to give the Trojans a 5-4 lead.
The tug-of-war between the two offenses continued until USC emerged with a 6-5 lead at the end of the quarter. Despite the Trojans retaining the lead heading into the second quarter, Pintaric was outraged at the defensive effort by his Trojans.
“It is borderline unacceptable that we allowed five easy goals in the first quarter,” Pintaric said. “We didn’t get the matchups we wanted, and we struggled.”
After allowing two more goals to Pepperdine that gave the Waves a 7-6 lead, the Trojans tightened up, allowing just four more goals for the rest of the game.
“We definitely got better defensively as the game went on,” Pintaric said. “Our guys started to find their groove.”
The strong screening effort allowed the USC offense to retain a one-goal lead heading into the half even though Pepperdine outscored its opponents 84-64 in the second quarter this season. The slim margin held for the rest of the game.
The Trojans will return home to face off against No. 3 Stanford for a Senior Day matchup on Oct. 30.
“It’s definitely going to be a difficult game,” Ehrhardt said. “Stanford’s got a new coach, so we’ve been watching their games, trying to see how they operate. It’s going to be fun.”