UCLA
USC
No. 1 UCLA Defeats No. 2 USC, 10-9
October 12, 2015 | Men's Water Polo
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MALIBU, Calif., -- The top-ranked UCLA Bruins improved to 17-0 on the year with a 10-9 win over No. 2 USC (15-2) in the finals of the 2015 Kap7 SoCal Invitational on Sunday evening. Based on available records, tonight's win was the Bruins' first SoCal Tournament title.
UCLA was led by junior Ryder Roberts and senior Anthony Daboub, each scoring a game-high four goals. For Daboub, it marked a career-high. Junior goalkeeper Garrett Danner also tied his career-high of 15 saves for the fourth time in his career, the last since tallying 15 against USC in the MPSF third-place match last year. UCLA improved to 80-77-1 all-time against USC and has now won five of the last six meetings in the last two years and seven of the last nine the past three seasons.
USC came out on fire and built a 3-0 lead with two goals at full strength and a power play goal. But the Bruins ended the period with two straight to trail 3-2 at the end of the first. Roberts scored on a power play (3:32) and Daboub found the back of the net on a cross-cage skipper (1:15).
Roberts struck gold with a low skip shot that just beat the shot clock to open the scoring in the second (7:06), tying the game at 3-3. He then completed his hat trick with a great drive and finish to take a 4-3 lead (4:47). Lachlan Edwards went cross-cage to tie the score at 4-4 (0:59) to end the scoring in the second quarter.
The Bruins dominated the third period, outscoring the Trojans 4-1 to take an 8-5 lead into the final frame. It was all Roberts and Daboub as the pair each had a total of four goals by the end of the third.
Matteo Morelli (6:37) and Nick Bell (power play, 4:55) scored back-to-back goals for the Trojans to begin the fourth, cutting the Bruins' lead to 8-7. But sophomore Max Irving answered with a power play goal (4:25) to push the lead back to 9-7. Then USC scored two more unanswered goals from Blake Edwards (4:11) and Stein (0:22) to knot it up at 9-9. That set up the game-winning heroics for junior Patrick Fellner. His first goal of the match was a rocket at put the Bruins up 10-9 with 0:15 remaining. The Bruins got the stop on the Trojans' last possession to seal the win.
Danner played all four periods in the cage for UCLA making a previously mentioned career-high-tying 15 saves, giving him a total of 27 today against No. 4 Cal and No. 2 USC. McQuin Baron was credited with eight saves for USC.
UCLA went 4-for-9 on power plays while USC went 2-for-6. Neither team attempted a penalty shot.
The Bruins return to action at No. 3 Stanford in a league match on the Pac-12 Networks on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 10:30 a.m.
No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 2 USC (Kap7 SoCal Invitational - Finals)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| No. 2 USC | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| No. 1 UCLA | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
6x5 - UCLA - 4/9 - USC - 2/6
Penalties - UCLA - 0/0 - USC - 0/0
USC Goals: Grant Stein 3, Matteo Morelli 1, Bryce Hoerman 1, Lachlan Edwards 1, Chase Koplow 1, Nick Bell 1, Blake Edwards 1
USC Saves: McQuin Baron 8
UCLA Goals: Ryder Roberts 4, Anthony Daboub 4, Max Irving 1, Patrick Fellner 1
UCLA Saves: Garrett Danner 15
