Some say the third time’s the charm, but for the Trojans, that was not the case in their water polo matchup against the Bruins on Saturday afternoon.
The UCLA Bruins took a 16-9 victory, triumphing over USC for the third time this season. The score said a lot about the game, but it was truly the later stages of the second period and start of the third that killed the Trojans.
With a run started by redshirt sophomore utility Ben Larsen, the Bruins went from a one score lead to a seven point gap, a hole that became insurmountable for even the electric Trojan offense. The deficit was especially hard to overcome because the Bruins had a brick wall in the cage: graduate student Garret Griggs. Griggs finished with 15 saves in the match.
The Trojans struggled again in the exclusion count, reaching double digits again this season. This has been an issue in numerous different games, but it has only really been the Bruins and the Stanford Cardinal who have been able to take advantage. Even though USC had redshirt sophomore Bernardo Herzer in cage, with a man advantage, UCLA kept finding the open man, which was one reason that USC fell into as deep of a hole as it did.
Another reason was UCLA prodigy Ryder Dodd. With a bronze medal from his tenure with Team USA in the Olympics to his name, the freshman attacker dropped five goals on the Trojans and determinedly brought home the win for the Bruins. It has not been the first time he was a thorn in the side of this USC team either: he scored three goals in their second meeting back in October and was a massive reason for the momentum change that saw UCLA go from down one to up two in less than a period.
It was a great game from senior Connor Cohen, who netted two goals in the contest. The 2-meter who transferred from Pepperdine two seasons ago has shown up sporadically this season but has been a great depth player, especially when fifth-year 2-meter Max Miller gets into foul trouble.
Speaking of Miller, he had a goal of his own, putting himself in the lead for the team-high with goals in 21 of USC’s 23 matchups. Junior utility Andrej Grgurevic also had a goal, which extends his streak to five straight games with a goal scored. Late this season, he has been a crucial shooter for the team and has garnered 27 goals.
As this matchup concludes the 2024 season, the Trojans finish with a regular season record of 18-5 and a conference record of 2-4 — their only other losses being to Stanford. They will move on to the MPSF tournament this Friday against the Austin College Kangaroos at noon at Spieker Aquatics Center on UCLA’s campus.