Nov. 25, 2007

BERKELEY, CALIF. - The top-ranked USC men's water polo team put itself in solid position for another NCAA appearance as the Trojans forced their way into the MPSF Championship match with Saturday's 10-6 win over Stanford. USC will now face UC Irvine in the title match for the right to claim the automatic bid into next weekend's NCAA Tournament. The Trojans face off against the No. 5 Anteaters at 4 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley, Calif.

Against Stanford in the semifinals, USC made sure to get well ahead of the Cardinal early. In the teams' fourth meeting this season, the Trojans padded a 3-1 first-period lead to a 5-2 halftime lead before really kicking things into gear in the third. The Trojans pinned up five goals to zero from Stanford to cruise to a crucial victory, taking a 10-2 lead into the fourth period. Stanford closed the gap, but couldn't overcome the hefty eight-goal advantage the Trojans had built. For the 10th straight game, Matt Sagehorn served up a multiple-goal game, leading USC in scoring for the fourth consecutive match with three goals against the Cardinal.

USC's balanced attack extended to seven different Trojans in the win, as Tommy Corcoran punched in a pair, and J.W. Krumpholz, Gabor Sarusi, Devon Borisoff, Shea Buckner and Drew Vyn also tallied scores to carry the Trojans to victory. Manning the cage for USC was senior Adam Shilling, who notched five saves in the win.

USC has faced its MPSF championship opponent, UC Irvine, once before this season. The Trojans topped the Anteaters 9-7 in last week's regular-season finale to help USC take over the No. 1 ranking in the national polls.

#1 USC 10, #3 Stanford 6
USC 3 - 2 - 5 - 0 -- 10
STAN 1 - 1 - 0 - 4 -- 6

SCORING:
USC - Matt Sagehorn 3, Tommy Corcoran 2, J.W. Krumpholz, Gabor Sarusi, Devon Borisoff, Shea Buckner, Drew Vyn.
STAN - Janson Wigo 2, Ryan Fortune, Andrew Drake, Will Hindle-Katel, Chris Jacobson.

SAVES: Adam Shilling (USC) 5, Sandy Hohener (STAN) 6.