Slow Start Dooms No. 13 UCI in Loss to No. 5 USC

Saturday, October 5

Los Angeles, Calif.

1:00 PM

UC Irvine

USC

Slow Start Dooms No. 13 UCI in Loss to No. 5 USC

October 05, 2019 | Men's Water Polo

By: Sarah Zetlmeisl

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – No. 13 UC Irvine trailed 8-1 at halftime and could not overcome the deficit, ultimately suffering a 16-10 loss to No. 5 USC Saturday afternoon at Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

UCI drops to 6-6 on the season while the Trojans improve to 7-2 overall.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Ivan Mercep finished with a career and team-high three goals. His brother, the Trojans' Jacob Mercep had a game-high four goals
> Jason Evezard notched two goals while Bryant Joudrie, Zlatan Nikcevic, Kiyan Mohebbizadeh, Chad Gornay and Jovan Gojkovich each had one
> Harrison Land, Collin Winters and Chandler Mankins all spit time in goal. Each Anteater grabbed one save while Mankins tallied three steals

TURNING POINTS
Quarter One
> The Trojans shut out UCI in the first quarter and took a 6-0 lead

Quarter Two
> USC extended its lead, 8-0, with 1:35 to play in the second quarter
> Evezard finally broke through the Trojan defense and fired in goal with less than a minute to play to make it 8-1 at the half

Quarter Three
> USC's Mercep added two goals before Evezard scored on a five-meter penalty at 5:55
> Nikocevic followed that up with another UCI goal (3:48)
> The Trojans would score at 3:22 before Ivan Mercep capped the quarter with a goal at 1:08

Quarter Four
> UCI outscored USC 6-5 in the final frame but it wasn't enough as USC secured the 16-10 win
> Joudrie fed a pass to Gojkovich who scored on a powerplay (5:44) before Joudrie added a goal at 3:14
> The teams exchanged back-and-forth goals to make it 16-8 (1:12)
> Gornay and Mercep fired in two consecutive goals in the final minute

UP NEXT
> UCI will play its home-opener Sunday, Oct. 13 against top-ranked Stanford at 1 p.m.