#4 UC Santa Barbara Tops #1 USC in 1 of 10 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Week 2 Upsets

Defending champion USC suffered one of three Top 10 upsets on Week 2 of collegiate men’s water polo action. The week also featured three overtime affairs.

#1 USC went 3-1 in the opening weekend of its NCAA title defense, downing Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (21-9), Whittier (15-9) and Concordia (Irvine) 27-3 and falling to #4 UC Santa Barbara 13-9.

#5 Cal suffered two upset losses at the hands of #11 UC Davis (16-13) and #6 Pacific (14-12).

#12 Princeton dropped two matches as well, dropping an 11-8 decision against #14 Bucknell on Saturday and a 13-12 contest to George Washington on Sunday.

The win over Princeton was the second of three wins over ranked foes for GW, which also topped RV Santa Clara 15-7 on Saturday and #19 Brown 10-7 on Sunday.

Upsets

• #11 UC Davis def. #5 Cal 16-13 OT – After trailing 7-3 at halftime, UC Davis outscored the Bears 7-5 in the final two stanzas, including twice in the last 25 seconds of regulation to draw even at 12. The teams traded goals to start the first overtime, but George Kuesis scored the game winner on a powerplay with one second left. UC Davis scored two more goals in the second overtime to ensure the victory. Keenan Anderson, Nir Gross and Max Somple each logged a hat trick for UC Davis, while Safek Simsek paced Cal with three goals.
• #12 Harvard def. #9 UC San Diego 12-11 – The Tritons led 6-5 at halftime, but Harvard grabbed the advantage in the third quarter with a 5-2 run. UCSD was within one with 10 seconds to play, but could not complete the rally. Alex Tsotadze and Michael Sonsini each put in two goals to pace the Crimson, while Skyler Munatones and Konstantin Karlov each notched hat tricks for the Tritons.
• #14 Bucknell def. #12 Princeton 11-8 – Bucknell used a 3-0 run in the final stanza to edge ahead of the Tigers for the 11-8 win. The teams were tied at 5 at halftime and again at 8 after three periods. From there, two goals by Cooper Dolan and a third by Andu Vlasceanu lifted the Bison to victory. Rade Joksimovic paced Bucknell with four scores, while Mitchell Cooper scored five goals in the loss for Princeton.
• Fordham def. RV Santa Clara 12-9 – The teams were tied at 3-all after the first quarter, but Fordham outscored the Broncos 7-3 over the next two stanzas to take a 10-6 lead and hung on for the win. Dimitris Koukias put in four goals to pace the Rams, while Jake Miller Tolt added three scores.
• #17 St. Francis Brooklyn def. #15 George Washington 10-6 – The Terriers jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first half and tacked on four more goals in the third quarter to make it 9-3. The Colonials battled back with a 3-1 rally, but it was too little too late. Vladimir Mickic put in four goals to pace St. Francis, while William Lapkin and Ivan Stefanovic added two each. Andrew Mavis and Andras Levai scored two goals apiece for GW.
• #6 Pacific def. #5 Cal 14-12 – Cal led 7-5 with three minutes to play in second quarter, only to fall behind 8-7 after a goal by Luis Araga and two from Jeremie Cote. Pacific pushed its advantage to two at 11-9 on a goal by Luke Pavillard, but the Bears tied it up at 12 with 3:28 to play on a penalty by Safak Simsek. Power play goals by Araga (2:54) and Cote (1:05), however, sealed the upset for the Tigers. Cote scored four goals in the game, while Pavillard and Araya added two each. Jordan Hoover was the top scorer for Cal with three goals.
• Fordham def. #17 St. Francis Brooklyn 19-14 – Senior Jake Miller-Tolt racked up nine goals as the Rams vaulted past St. Francis at the Princeton Invitational on Sunday. Vladimir Mickic scored five times, while Dominick Hevesi and Ivan Stefanovic put in three goals each for the Terriers. Fordham built a 10-6 halftime lead and held on despite St. Francis rallying to tie it up at 10 in the third quarter. The Rams responded with four unanswered goals in the third stanza (14-10) and tacked on another 4-1 run over the first 4:30 of the fourth quarter to go up 19-13.
• #15 George Washington def. #12 Princeton 13-12 – Down 10-9 with eight minutes to play, the Colonials turned it on with a 4-0 run to start the final stanza. Andras Levai put in the eventual game winner with 1:50 to play (13-10). Princeton countered with two goals, but could not prevent the upset. Levai put in three goals, while Chris Lee and Andrew Mavis added two apiece. Yurian Quinones and Casey Conrad turned in hat tricks for Princeton in the loss.
• #8 Pepperdine def. #7 Long Beach State 10-8 – A five-goal second quarter gave Pepperdine the cushion it needed to withstand a second half push by the 49ers. The Waves led 7-4 at the half, before LBSU knotted it up at 8-all on an Austin Stewart goal early in the fourth quarter. Pepperdine netted the final two goals to close out the upset. Balazs Kosa led all scorers with four goals for the Waves, while Curtis Jarvis added two. Garrett Zaan, Matt Morris and Stewart each put in two goals for LBSU.
• #4 UC Santa Barbara def. #1 USC 13-9 – Boasting just a one-goal lead at the half (7-6), the Gauchos put in four goals in the third quarter, while limiting the Trojans to one en route to the win. Cole Brosnan scored twice (5:00 and 1:18) in the third quarter rally. USC put in two goals in the fourth quarter, but could not break through. Mason McQuet dropped in a power play goal with six seconds left to put the icing on the upset. Brosnan netted a match-high five goals, while Jake Ehrhardt was the top scorer for USC with three.

Overtime

•  #9 UC San Diego def. #12 Princeton 11-10 – UCSD registered its first overtime win since 2016 (Brown 12-11 on Sept. 9, 2016) after rallying from a 6-3 deficit with 3:36 left in the first half. The Tritons scored the first two goals of the third quarter, grabbing a 9-7 lead. Princeton knotted the score at 9-all, but goals by Skyler Munatones (2:02) and Cooper Milton (0:55) put UCSD on top for good. The Tigers scored one final goal with 1:23 to play in the game.  Munatones and Milton led four UCSD players with two goals apiece, while Yurian Quinones was the top scorer for Princeton, registering a hat trick.
• RV Navy def. RV Santa Clara 15-13 – Neither team led by more than two goals in regulation, leading to a 12-all tie. Cole Jacobs and Trevor Clark gave the Midshipmen the edge in overtime and Isaac Salinas countered a Bronco goal with one final score. Salinas put in four goals, while three other players added two goals each.
• #11 UC Davis def. #5 Cal 16-13

Men’s Collegiate Water Polo Week 2