No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Makes Fourth-Frame Rally To Take Third At MPSF Tourney, Beating No. 1 Cal 11-9

STANFORD, CALIF. — The No. 2 USC men's water polo team nabbed a crucial win in a rubber match with top-ranked California, beating the Bears 11-9 in today's MPSF Tournament third-place game at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center. The Trojans trailed by one goal on three occasions, but hit the gas in the fourth frame with a three-goal surge to break a tie and take the lead for good. Jacob Mercep scored three goals in the win, while goalie Nic Porter hauled in 14 saves to stake his claim as the No. 4 all-time goalie at USC, now with 652 career saves. The Trojans improve to 17-2 overall with their second win over the Golden Bears this season.

After the close of the event, USC's Jacob Mercep and Nic Porter were both named to the MPSF All-Tournament Team.

USC drew first blood with a rocket from Hannes Daube midway through the first quarter, but Cal would equalize and then manage a go-ahead goal with a strike just three seconds before the buzzer. Early in the second, redshirt freshman Joshua Waldoch buried his first postseason goal to snarl things up 2-2, although Cal would have an answer for that one as well as fiery blast from Jake Ehrhardt. Tied up 3-3, it would be Jacob Mercep's first of the day to tug the Trojans on top 4-3 in the final minute of the half.

A wild third period ensued, as USC went ahead 5-3 on a slammer from Max Miller at the post off a Daube feed. Cal responded with back-to-back goals to level it, and then Mercep sizzled in a skipper to make it 6-5 at the midway point of the third. Cal hammered in back-to-back goals again to serve notice to the Trojans and move ahead 7-6 with just five ticks to go. In a last-ditch effort to close out the third, USC put Ashworth Molthen in the goalie cap, and Molthen delivered. He catapulted a shot from distance, beating the buzzer as he found the back of the net to lock things up at 7-7 entering the fourth.

In that final eight minutes, USC was on its game. Wyatt Barker ripped in the go-ahead goal out of the gates, but the Bears countered and evened it at 8-8 with 6:18 on the clock. The Trojan defense locked in for the next stretch, while the offense manufactured three straight scores to create some key space on Cal. Mercep found Carson Kranz on a 6-on-5 to make it 9-8 Trojans, and then Mercep would set up Daube for a hammer blow that got USC ahead 10-8 at 1:52. Porter snubbed the Bears at the other end next, and then Mercep sizzled in his third with 1:10 remaining, punching up an 11-9 advantage that would be dented only by a late Cal goal, which wrapped things up as an 11-9 Trojan victory.

NOTABLE:
- With 14 saves today, SR Nic Porter recorded his seventh straight game with double-digit saves — 11th overall this season and 35th as a Trojan.
- Porter also took sole possession of No. 4 all-time on USC's career saves list, now with 652.
- With today's hat trick, SR Jacob Mercep now leads USC with 12 multi-goal games this season.
- With two goals today, RS JR Hannes Daube has now scored in 17 of USC's 19 games this season.

NEXT: 
USC awaits the reveal of the NCAA Tournament bracket, to be released later today (Nov. 21) on ncaa.com.

MPSF CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

THIRD-PLACE GAME
[2] USC 11, [1] California 9
Nov. 21, 2021 | Avery Aquatic Center (Stanford, Calif.)
USC   1 - 3 - 3 - 4 = 11
CAL   2 - 1 - 4 - 2 = 9

SCORING:
USC — Jacob Mercep 3, Hannes Daube 2, Joshua Waldoch, Jake Ehrhardt, Max Miller, Ashworth Molthen, Wyatt Barker, Carson Kranz.
CAL — Nikos Delagrammatikas 3, Nikolaos Papanikolaou 2, Roberto Valera 2, Max Casabella, George Avakian.

SAVES: Nic Porter (USC) 14, Adrian Weinberg (CAL) 12.