USC Defeats Stanford to Win Water Polo Title

USC held Stanford to only two goals in the second half and scored two goals in every period for an 8-6 victory in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s water polo championship match Sunday at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

The Trojans will receive an automatic berth to next week’s NCAA tournament at Stanford for winning the MPSF title. It will be USC’s first appearance in the NCAA tournament in three years.

USC (22-3) ended a 4-4 halftime tie by scoring twice in the third period. Stanford (21-4) received an at-large berth into the four-team NCAA tournament.

Juraj Zatovic, James Shin and Trevor Clark each scored two goals for the Trojans, and Cameron Kaiser and Gadi Hadar each had one. Tony Azevedo led Stanford with a match-high three goals.

Loyola Marymount earned a berth in the NCAA tournament when it defeated UC San Diego, 6-5, last week to win the Western Water Polo Assn. championship.

Navy (25-6) earned the fourth spot by winning the Eastern Water Polo Assn. championship.

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Evan Corey scored his first two collegiate goals to lead UCLA to a 2-0 victory over Florida International in the third round of the NCAA men’s soccer tournament at Drake Stadium.

The victory may have been costly for the defending-champion Bruins (20-1-1), who lost midfielder Aaron Lopez and sweeper Dru Hoshimiya to knee injuries. UCLA will play Indiana in the quarterfinals Saturday night.

Corey, a sophomore reserve, scored in the 46th minute off an assist from Adolfo Gregorio and again in the 85th minute when he put in a shot from 12 yards off a cross by Matt Taylor.

“I’ve underachieved since I’ve been here,” Corey said. “Two goals today have really boosted my confidence big-time.”

Zach Wells made three saves in his 11th shutout this season.

“We came out flat in the first half again,” Coach Tom Fitzgerald said. “FIU was a very different kind of team. In the second half, we took over and had two unexpected goals by Evan.”

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USC, the No. 1 team in the nation all season and the defending national champion, was seeded No. 1 overall in the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament and will be at home for the first two rounds.

The Trojans (29-0) will play New Hampshire and Cal State Northridge (16-12) faces Loyola Marymount (25-6) in first-round matches Friday at the Lyon Center. Winners of the two matches will face each other Saturday.

Pepperdine (25-2) is the tournament’s fourth-seeded team and will play Manhattan at home Thursday night. Long Beach State (19-10) will play Kansas in the other match.

UCLA (21-8) also will remain at home. The Bruins will play Friday against San Diego and UC Irvine (23-9) takes on Missouri. UC Santa Barbara (19-8) plays Northern Iowa on Friday at Minneapolis.