No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Swamps No. 10 Pepperdine 22-7
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. — The No. 2 USC men's water polo team turned up the heat and served up a 22-7 win over visiting No. 10 Pepperdine, marking the most Trojan goals scored against the Waves in program history. Two USC juniors — Marcus Longton and Chris Sturtevant — hit new career highs with five and four goals apiece, respectively, while senior Jake Ehrhardt scored four goals on his birthday. Goalie Nic Porter, meanwhile, drummed up 13 saves in the cage help lock down the well-rounded USC victory, which improves the Trojans to 2-0 on the year.
USC broke an early tie with a six-goal scoring surge to put Pepperdine on the ropes early, leading it 7-2 after eight minutes thanks in part to a first-frame hat trick from Longton. The Waves would manage late goals in the first two frames, but USC's offensive onslaught just kept coming as the hosts led it 12-5 by the break. In the third, USC poured out the first four goals as Sturtevant and Ehrhardt worked their way into hat trick territory to build a 16-5 advantage. And while the USC offense clicked off goals, the defense certainly had a hand in feeding that Trojan attack. All the while, the USC defense allowed just two second-half goals by Pepperdine en route to the dominating 22-7 final count.
Next up for the Trojans is a journey to Claremont for two games at the Inland Empire Classic tomorrow (Sept. 12). The Trojans have a 9 a.m. tile set against Occidental first, followed by an 11:30 a.m. clash with host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps as USC looks to stay perfect and improve to 4-0 on the year.
NOTABLES:
- With three goals today, SR Jacob Mercep now holds 160 career goals to rank No. 9 all-time at USC.
- With a game-high five goals today, JR Marcus Longton beat his previous career high of three goals.
- JR Chris Sturtevant scored a career-high four goals.
- FR Jake Carter became the first true freshman to have a multi-goal game this season with his two goals today.
- Carter and Mercep each had a team-high three Mercep.
- USC's 22 goals was the most ever scored against Pepperdine in program history (since 1979)
#2 USC 22, #10 Pepperdine 7
Sept. 11, 2021 | Uytengsu Aquatics Center (Los Angeles, Calif.)
USC 7 - 5 - 6 - 4 = 22
PEP 2 - 3 - 1 - 1 = 7
SCORING:
USC — Marcus Longton 5, Chris Sturtevant 4, Jacob Ehrhardt 4, Jacob Mercep 3, Jake Carter 2, Hannes Daube, Carson Kranz, Wyatt Barker, Tony Nardelli.
PEP — Nicholas Fichman 2, Nico Tierney, Sean Ferrari, Austin Smit, Balazs Kosa, Clay Kaneko.
SAVES: Nic Porter (USC) 13, John Claude Marco (PEP) 4, Justin Edward (PEP) 2.