No. 1 Southern California 17, No. 13 Loyola Marymount 4
No. 2 Southern California 22, Cal Lutheran 3
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. -- Southern California cruised through two visitors on Saturday in a doubleheader at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The Trojans started the busy afternoon with a 17-4 win against No. 13 Loyola Marymount before wrapping it all up with a 22-3 win against Cal Lutheran to stretch the USC home win streak out to 43 in a row. USC improves to 19-1 with Saturday's victories.
The Lions hung tight to the Trojans in the first frame in cutting it to a 3-2 Trojans edge with a buzzer beater from half tank, sparking USC to kick into gear in the second frame. In the third frame, Russell Renteria delivered an acrobatic finish on a feed from Kustic on a USC 6-on-5, and Genidounias generated his second of the day with a steal and blast for the Trojan cause.
In the fourth, USC would pitch a shutout against the Lions, while Jeremy Davie got in on the scoring act with two powerful attacks from set during the frame. Rex Butler pumped in a pair as well to get up to a hat trick in the match, with Mac Carden and Vavic also supplying scores as the Trojans topped off the game with six unanswered blasts to ring up the 17-4 final against LMU.
In game two of the day, USC took on Cal Lutheran, which had come across town after a morning match of its own. The Trojans were ready for the Kingsmen, though, tallying 10 goals in the first period of play and taking a 15-3 halftime advantage.
In the second half, the Trojan defense shut out Cal Lutheran, with Paul Mitre and Clark Barry sharing time in the cage in the last 16 minutes of play. By the final buzzer, USC's Chase Watson had led the charge with four goals, and the Trojan effort was also highlighted by the first career goal from Liam Burke as USC wrapped up the win with 13 different Trojans on the board with goals.
No. 4 Stanford 8, No. 2 UCLA 6
STANFORD, Calif. -- Second-ranked UCLA dropped its second consecutive game, falling to 18-2 overall and 0-1 in the MPSF after an 8-6 setback at No. 4 Stanford (11-4, 1-1 MPSF) at Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday morning.
For Stanford, it was the Cardinal's first win against the Bruins since Oct. 11, 2009.
The game was nearly an exact opposite of the Bruins' 10-5 win against Stanford just a week ago. In that contest, UCLA jumped out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back. In this game, the Cardinal jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never trailed.
Bret Bonanni led the Cardinal with three goals while UCLA was led by redshirt junior Cristiano Mirarchi, who had two goals in the fourth quarter.
The Bruins saw a return of an old problem on Saturday, capitalizing on 6-on-5 opportunities. UCLA went 0-for-11 on power plays after entering the game converting on 50.7 percent of its extra man opportunities on the year. But the Bruins' 6-on-5 defense also wasn't up to form, allowing Stanford to score on 5 of 7 power plays.
No. 6 UC Santa Barbara 17, No. 9 Pepperdine 10
MALIBU, Calif. -- UC Santa Barbara (14-4, 1-0) showcased another solid outing in the pool as the team defeated No. 9 Pepperdine (7-7, 0-1) for its first MPSF conference match.
The opening of the game remained close as neither team was able to pull away from one another. With goals from Matthew Hamilton, Matt Gronow, Nicholas Jordan and Bryce Miller, the Gauchos were able to take the 4-3 lead after the opening period.
The start of the second period was a shift in momentum as the Waves scored two consecutive goals to give themselves the 5-4 edge. UCSB showed its toughness though as the team stormed back with two goals from Eric Van de Mortel to give the team the 6-5 lead at the half.
Santa Barbara solidified its command in the match at the start of the second half. With a 7:01 score from Derek Shoemaker, the Gauchos jump started an offensive outburst that produced four goals within the third period. With goals from Kevin Cappon, Nicholas Jordan and Bryce Miller, UCSB held a solid 10-7 lead.
The concluding period of the match was all Gauchos as the team continued to poor on the offensive pressure. Within the period, UCSB scored an impressive total of seven goals against Pepperdine's total of three. The Gauchos marched on to its first conference win of the season with a 17-10 victory against Pepperdine.
