UCLA
USC
No. 1 UCLA Crushes No. 4 USC, 11-6
November 16, 2015 | Men's Water Polo
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LOS ANGELES -- The top-ranked UCLA Bruins ended the regular season with a dominant 11-6 victory over No. 4 USC (18-5, 6-3) on "Senior Day" on Sunday afternoon at Dirks Pool at Spieker Aquatics Center. The Bruins improved to 25-0 on the year and 9-0 in the MPSF, winning their third-consecutive MPSF regular season crown. The win marked the Bruins' 28th-straight victory, which extends the second-longest winning streak in school history. The all-time record is 50, which was established from 1964-68.
The Bruins improved to 81-77-1 all-time against USC and have now won six of the last seven meetings in the last two years and eight of the last 10 the past three seasons. The Bruins also extended their winning streak in MPSF regular season games to 24, which has already shattered the previous best of 13 (2003-05). The last time UCLA lost a league game was an 8-6 setback at Stanford on Oct. 19, 2013.
While it was "Senior Day" for the Bruins, it was a pair of UCLA juniors that stole the show. Ryder Roberts scored a game-high three goals, giving him seven against the Trojans in two wins this year. Garrett Danner recorded a career-best 19 saves and also registered a career-high seven steals. Both of the Bruin seniors scored with Daniel McClintick scoring in the first period and Anthony Daboub tallying two goals to give him six this year against USC.
USC got off to a hot start, leading 2-0 after back-to-back backhanded goals at set. Lachlan Edwards (6:35) scored first, followed by Blake Edwards (5:56). Sophomore Max Irving got the Bruins on the board to trim the lead to 2-1 with a goal from the front court (5:42). From then on, it was all UCLA as the Bruins' defense shut down the Trojans for the next 16:57. Roberts scored the equalizer on a 6-on-5 opportunity (4:41) and the junior Chancellor Ramirez gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead with a goal from the front court (2:08). McClintick ended the scoring in the first period with a goal from the front court (1:17) to push the lead to 4-2.
The Bruins' defense dominated the second period, pitching a shut out while the offense picked up two scores. Daboub scored his first from deep (6:25) and then Roberts added another power play goal, his second of the game, to give the Bruins a 6-2 lead at the half.
UCLA's offense put four more goals on the board in the third. Irving scored his second off a nice drive and perfect pass from McClintick that gave the Bruins a 7-2 lead (6:32). It marked UCLA's seventh unanswered goal. Mihajlo Milicevic ended the 16:57 scoring drought for the Trojans with a power play goal (4:59). But the Bruins responded with three straight goals to put the game out of reach. Roberts completed a hat trick with his third power play strike (4:04) and junior Gordon Marshall made it 9-3 with another exclusion goal off an unselfish pass from Daboub (2:55). Then the seniors collaborated for a score as McClintick set up Daboub for a goal from the front court to push the lead to 10-3 (2:02). Matteo Morelli found the back of the net on a near-side skip shot to end the scoring in the third (1:48) with the Bruins leading 10-4.
Marshall pushed the lead to 11-4 with his second power play goal of the game from two meters off a nice feed from sophomore Alex Roelse with 6:43 to go. The Bruins ran out the shot clock on most of their offensive possessions after that and emptied their bench in the final 1:39. The Trojans got a penalty score from Blake Edwards (1:39) and a power play goal just before the buzzer (0:01) from Nick Lavayen to provide the 11-6 final.
McQuin Baron was credited with 10 saves for USC.
UCLA went 5-for-5 on power plays while the Trojans were just 2-for-12. USC went 1-for-1 on penalty shots while the Bruins didn't attempt one.
The Bruins return to action next weekend as the No. 1 seed at the MPSF Tournament at USC (Nov. 20-22). UCLA will face the winner of No. 8 Long Beach State/No. 9 Pepperdine at 4:00 p.m. on Nov. 20 in the last quarterfinal game of the day.
No. 4 USC at No. 1 UCLA (MPSF Match/Regular Season Finale)
| SCOREBOARD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| No. 4 USC | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| No. 1 UCLA | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 11 |
6x5 - UCLA - 5/5 - USC - 2/12
Penalties - UCLA - 0/0 - USC - 1/1
USC Goals: Blake Edwards 2, Mihajlo Milicevic 1, Lachlan Edwards 1, Matteo Morelli 1, Nick Lavayen 1
USC Saves: McQuin Baron 10
UCLA Goals: Ryder Roberts 3, Anthony Daboub 2, Max Irving 2, Gordon Marshall 2, Daniel McClintick 1, Chancellor Ramirez 1
UCLA Saves: Garrett Danner 19
