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Palo Alto, Calif. - No. 2 Pacific fell to No. 1 USC in overtime, 12-11, in the NCAA Men's Water Polo National Championship Game Sunday. Senior Balazs Erdelyi scored seven goals and was named the Championship's most valuable player. But Nikola Vavic's overtime goal gave the Trojans their sixth-straight title.
Three of Erdelyi's seven goals came in the fourth quarter, including the game-tying goal with 20 seconds left to force overtime. Goalkeeper Alex Malkis posted 17 saves, including a penalty shot in the fourth quarter, and earned all-tournament first team honors, but the Tigers' dream season ends with the National Runner Up trophy and a 22-5 record.
"Just because someone is crowned the champion, doesn't mean that the other team shouldn't feel proud," said head coach James Graham. "They made for one of the best NCAA championship games I've ever seen."
Erdelyi became just the third player in 45 years of NCAA men's water polo to be named Tournament MVP while not winning the title or sharing the award. His seven goals are believed to be the championship game record since removing two-point scores. He also tied the NCAA record for goals in two games of the tournament, with nine.
Senior Goran Tomasevic was also named to the all-tournament first team, while junior Alex Obert and senior Kevin Oliveira were named to the second team.
USC goalkeeper James Clark also posted 17 saves while Vavic led the offensive with four goals, Rex Butler added three, and Ivan Kustic a pair.
USC got on the board first, as Nikola Vavic tallied from the right side 1:52 into the game. Pacific answered on the six-on-five, as Erdelyi fired home a shot from inside the five meters to tie the game. Ben Stevenson's transition attempt of a lob shot was saved off the fingers of USC goalie James Clark and Rex Butler snuck one into the near side for a 2-1 USC lead. Then Alex Obert accepted a pass in the two-meter, spun and hammered home the goal to tie it up at 2-2.
Erdelyi struck again on a 6-on-5 in a repeat of his first power-play goal for Pacific's first lead. But Zach Lucas answered to tie the game at 3-3 with a six-on-five goal with 1:10 left in the period. With 51 seconds left in the quarter, the Tigers drew the foul in the two-meter and Erdelyi ripped home the five-meter penalty shot for a 4-3 lead. Alex Malkis posted a save on a two-meter shot as Pacific took a 4-3 lead into the second quarter.
In the second, Casey Fleming drew a foul and another penalty shot was awarded. Erdelyi finished to the left side this time for a 5-3 Pacific lead at the 7:29 mark. Ivan Kustic closed the gap for USC, with a skip-shot goal to the lower right with 5:42 left before halftime. Kostas Genidounias lobbed a shot over Malkis off the fast-break to knot the game at 5-5.
Malkis posted a pair of stops, but the Tigers' pass to the short-corner was high. Pacific drew an exclusion and ran out the last five seconds of the half, as the two teams entered the break still tied at 5-5.
Kevin Oliveira rattled home the go-ahead goal in the third quarter, off the bar, back of the keeper and in at the 6:24 mark. Malkis turned away a pair of power-play shots by the Trojans, and the Tigers drew an exclusion. Stevenson finished the lob pass from Erdelyi for a 7-5 lead on the ensuing power-play with 5:23 to go in the third.
But Genidounias scored again for USC to cut the Tigers lead to 7-6 and Vavic tied the game off a cross-pool feed, finishing into the lower right with 3:15 left.
On a six-on-five, Aleksandar Petrovic finished off a baseline feed to put Pacific up 8-7 at the end of the third quarter. USC was awarded a five-meter penalty, but Malkis stoned Genidounias and then the Tigers drew the five-meter on the other end.
Erdelyi converted his third of the game for a 9-7 lead with 5:52 to play. But the Trojans came back with a pair of goals, as Vavic tallied on the six-on-five, and Kustic's cross shot with 2:45 left tied the game at 10-10. USC posted a field block, and Jeremy Davies finished a Vavic feed from inside the two-meter to put the Trojans up 11-10 with 2:00 left.
Tomasevic drew an ejection, but Obert's shot off the feed from Erdelyi went bar out. Pacific posted the stop on defense, and Oliveria drew another USC exclusion with 29 seconds to go. Erdelyi's seventh of the game tied with 20 seconds left in the game, firing into the right corner from seven meters away. Butler's last-second shot sailed high, and the game headed to overtime.
In overtime, the Tigers were called for a pair of contra-fouls, while USC came up empty on their first two attempts. Malkis blocked Davies' turnaround attempt as the score remained tied 11-11 headed into the second OT.
Vavic tallied with the cross-shot with 2:17 left in the second overtime. The Tigers drew an exclusion on Vavic with 59 seconds left in the second extra session. Clark turned away Laczkovics' shot for the upper left corner with 36 seconds left. And Genidourias posted a steal with 22 seconds remaining to seal the title for the Trojans.
Pacific was playing in the title game for the first time in school history, and while USC won it's 10th championship. The Tigers were the first team outside of 'the big four' of USC, UCLA, Stanford and Cal to make the title game since 2000, and just the ninth finalist outside those schools all-time.
