“Underdogs” isn’t the word we usually use to describe a team led by a 15-time NCAA champion coach.
Still, the Trojans lived up to their word over the weekend, becoming the lowest tournament seed ever to win the MPSF Championship and pushing their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Playing at Austin College, UCLA and Stanford, the Trojans were undefeated all weekend.
“I am very proud of our team,” said head coach Marco Pintalic. “Our players improved every game. It’s an honor to coach and watch this team.”
Pintalik’s side remained undefeated at home all season, winning 7-0 at the Witengs Aquatics Centre.
“I’m so proud of our guys,” said redshirt senior two-meter Jake Erhardt. “It’s a very special moment for our team to be undefeated at home. .”
In the first game, 13 different Trojans scored a season-high 30 goals in a 30-3 win over Austin Ruth. Junior 2m Max Miller and Tony Nardelli each scored his six goals, a career-high.
“This game they put more pressure on us and gave us the opportunity to put our shots away and we adapted to that,” Nardelli said. “But I couldn’t score without my teammates. I mean, I was just playing water polo.”
Junior driver Tom McGuire added a career-high four goals and had three assists. Overall, Trojan swiped the ball from ‘Roos his 37 times. This is the season’s best for Trojans.
On the defensive side, alumni goaltender Kyle McKennie handed the cage to redshirt sophomore goaltender Blake Jackson after allowing only one goal in the quarter. Jackson blocked four ‘Roo strikes and he allowed only two goals in the rest of the game.
From the first sprint, the Trojan took the lead. Redshirt senior his driver Ashworth Morsen scored his first goal for USC by throwing the ball to sophomore driver Jake Carter.
After a Lou turnover, Erhardt received a pass from Molten and scored another goal. Erhardt struck again and scored in a 1–1 matchup against Lou’s senior goalkeeper Zachary Griffiths. That goal moved Ehrhardt to seventh all-time on the USC scoring list with 168 career goals.
After Erhardt’s back-to-back strikes, the Trojans never gave up for the rest of the game.
USC advances to UCLA. With the 12-11 win, the Trojans claimed his first win of the season against the Bruins after dropping his previous three games. Erhardt and junior driver Carson Krantz each scored his three goals, with Nardelli scoring two more.
“Coming back from what happened last weekend says a lot about this team,” said Erhardt. It’s not just me. They positioned me so that my whole team could score goals. I try to take advantage of those opportunities.
Stealing again played an important role in the Trojan victory. USC swiped the ball from crosstown rivals his 12th, with senior driver Marcus Longton leading all players with his three grabs.
With 1:09 left in the third quarter, Erhardt lured three defenders in, including Bruin senior goalkeeper Bernardo Maurizi. Erhardt then threw the ball into the vacated goal to put the Trojans up 11-6.
Graduate driver Massimo Di Martire threw the ball to Nardelli after the Bruins’ back-to-back strikes. Mountain View’s juniors headed the pass from hand to goal to give the Trojans a 12-8 advantage with 5:35 going into the fourth quarter.
Bruins senior attacker Tommy Gruwell and alumni attacker Jake Cabano both answered to keep the game within two.
With less than a minute remaining, Gruwell’s final try hit the goalpost. A Cabano strike with six seconds left found the net, but the Trojans played a keepaway in the final minute to claim victory.
USC’s final game was a 14-10 victory over Stanford. Di Martire and Erhardt both scored his four goals, with Longton scoring two more.
“I just stepped into an opportunity that I thought would come my way,” Ehrhardt said. I don’t want to, and that’s what I did today.
In the cage, McKennie played all four quarters and piled up nine blocks.
“From the first game to the last, our defense has come a long way,” said McKechnie. “It’s a mindset they’ve embraced, and I think they’ve done a great job defending our goals.”
The Trojans held a slight lead until Miller pulled out an exclusion with 3:02 in the fourth quarter. After a Trojan timeout, Erhardt threw the ball to Di Martire, who fired a bullet past the outnumbered Cardinals to put the Trojans up 12–9 with him.
The deficit forced the Cardinals to vacate goals and play with a seven-man offense. Even with the numbers, Cardinal his junior his 2m Ike his Love failed to break through the Trojan defense and the freshman utility he Andrei he threw the ball to Gruglevich and was on Stanford’s strategy. I put an end to it.
The Trojans will face Fordham or Princeton at Berkeley on December 1 in the NCAA quarterfinals. It will be USC’s 18th straight appearance.
“You would think an 18-game winning streak would put a lot of pressure on us,” McKennie said. “But I don’t think so. I think this team has nothing to lose and we are all playing together now.”
