No. 2 USC Men’s Water Polo Stalls Out In 9-5 Loss At Stanford

STANFORD, CALIF. — The No. 2 USC men's water polo were in stride with fellow No. 2 Stanford until the Cardinal made a power move in the second half to work to a final 9-5 win over the visiting Trojans today at Avery Aquatic Center. USC is now 16-4 overall and 1-3 in MPSF play.

In a defensive first frame, USC bounced back from an early Stanford goal to level it 1-1 on a skipper from Luka Brnetic before the close of the first. A back-and-forth battle continued in the next stretch before the Cardinal capitalized with two goals while the Trojans struggled to break through, and it was a 3-1 Stanford lead at halftime. USC found its form and punched up a pair of goals — from Stefan Brankovic and then Andrej Grgurevic — to knot things up at 3-3. USC would fall victim to a Stanford 5-meter penalty shot along with two 6-on-5 scores next, and the Trojans trailed 6-3 entering the fourth. Stanford struck off on another three-goal rally in the fourth, and USC was in a 9-3 hole. Luke Nelson and Zach Bettino tallied Trojan goals in the remaining time, but USC would wound up stuck with a 9-5 road loss when the buzzer sounded at Stanford today.

NEXT: 
USC now heads to Berkeley to face No. 7 Cal at 1 p.m. on Sunday (Nov. 3) another key MPSF road meeting.

#2 Stanford 9, #2 USC 5
Nov. 2, 2024 | Avery Aquatics Center (Stanford, Calif.)
USC   1 - 0 - 2 - 2 = 5
STAN  1 - 2 - 3 - 3 = 9

SCORING: 
USC —Luka Brnetic, Stefan Brankovic, Andrej Grgurevic, Luke Nelson, Zach Bettino.
STAN — Riley Pittman 2, Ethan Parrish 2, Chase McFarland, Dash McFarland, Botond Balogh, Soren Jensen, Jackson Painter.

SAVES: Bernardo Herzer (USC) 10, West Temkin (STAN) 6.