USC, UCLA men’s water polo teams reach NCAA title match

STANFORD — The top-seeded USC men’s water polo team beat No. 4 Fordham, 16-7, on Saturday, and second-seeded UCLA rallied to beat No. 3 Stanford, 9-7, setting up a crosstown showdown in the NCAA championship match.

USC (23-3) will play for the NCAA title for the 19th time in the past 21 seasons when it squares off with the Bruins (26-2) on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center. USC and UCLA split a pair of one-goal games during the regular season, then USC defeated UCLA, 14-11, in the MPSF title match two weeks ago at Stanford.

In a rematch of last year’s NCAA semifinal, which USC won 18-16 in OT, the Trojans scored first on a goal from Robert Lopez Duart. Fordham tied the score midway through the first quarter, but USC held the Rams scoreless for more than nine minutes while building a 6-1 lead with 3:13 left in the first half. The Trojans led 8-3 at halftime.

In the second half, the USC defense swarmed Fordham nearly every time it had a scoring opportunity. The Rams were shut out for the first 7:55 of the third period, as USC scored the first five goals of the half for a double-digit lead and cruised to a 16-7 victory.

Lopez Duart, the Trojans’ leading scorer this season, had a team-high three goals on Saturday. Luke Nelson, Strahinja Krstic and Mihailo Vukazic added two goals each and Efe Naipoglu had three assists. The Trojans had 11 different goal-scorers.

Charlie Mills had nine saves. Evan Ausmus had three steals to lead a USC defense that finished with 10 steals and four field blocks. Fordham came into the game averaging 19 goals per game and hadn’t been held under nine all season before Saturday.

STINGY DEFENSE SPARKS UCLA COMEBACK

Six different players scored for UCLA in its semifinal, as the Bruins rallied to defeat Stanford (18-8) for the fourth time this season.

Jucá Carsalade had five points (two goals and a game-high three assists) to pace UCLA. Frederico Jucá Carsalade, Ryder Dodd and Ben Larsen each scored two goals.

Goalkeeper Nate Tauscher recorded a career-best 16 saves to go with two steals, as he and the Bruins held Stanford to a season-low seven goals (just the second time this season Stanford had been held to single-digit scoring).

The Bruins held a 4-3 lead at halftime, but Stanford outscored them 4-2 in the third period to take a 7-6 lead into the final period. UCLA shut out the Cardinal in the fourth, with Tauscher making three saves and the team forcing six turnovers.

Dodd scored the equalizer at the 4:59 mark, then Larsen provided what proved to be the game-winning goal on a Bruin power play with 1:50 left. The Bruins earned a defensive stop on a Stanford 7-on-6 play to secure the win.