USC Clinches MPSF Tournament No. 1 Seed
Photo: Marin Dasic, USC (Courtesy USC Athletics)
MPSF Men's Water Polo Release 10 (PDF)
BEN HALLOCK OF STANFORD MPSF/KAP7 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Stanford redshirt junior
Ben Hallock (Studio City, CA/Harvard-Westlake HS) had a career-high-tying eight goals, along with five earned exclusions and two steals in a 15-8 MPSF home win over No. 7 California (Nov. 9). The eight-goal outburst also tied the all-time MPSF record for a conference game, achieved just one other time in 1996 (Jeff Colyer-Long Beach State), and was one shy of the all-time single-game record. This is Hallock’s seventh career MPSF weekly honor, fourth as player of the week.
Others Nominated: Jack Deely (Cal); Marin Dasic (USC)…
MAX WADE OF AUSTIN MPSF/KAP7 NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Austin College freshman
Max Wade (Flower Mound, TX/Flower Mound HS) had six goals in a 13-8 home win over Penn State Behrend and an additional four goals in another win over Ottawa-AZ (Nov. 9). He also accumulated three steals and two earned exclusions over the two wins. The win over the Lions was the first in team history, while Austin carries its first-ever three-game win streak. Wade has been named MPSF Newcomer of the Week a conference-high three times this year.
Others Nominated: Garrett Dunn (Cal)…
USC CLINCHES MPSF’s NO. 1 SEED, REGULAR SEASON CLOSES SATURDAY
No. 4 USC (2-0 MPSF, 12-4 Overall) locked up the MPSF Tournament’s No. 1 seed with a 10-7 win at No. 1 UCLA (Nov. 9)…The Trojans can do no worse than one conference loss, in which case they would own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Saturday’s Stanford-UCLA winner to still earn the top seed…USC travels to California to wrap the regular season Saturday (Nov. 16), before returning to Berkeley for the MPSF Tournament the following weekend (Nov. 22-24)…USC won the non-conference meeting over Cal on Sept. 29, 13-12, in Westwood…Marin Dasic recorded a hat trick, Sam Slobodien added two goals and four drawn exclusions, and Nic Porter collected seven saves in USC’s second MPSF win…Dasic has recorded three consecutive hat tricks…
No. 2 STANFORD (1-1 MPSF, 16-2 Overall) Ben Hallock tied the MPSF record for a conference game with eight goals in a 15-8 home win over No. 7 California (Nov. 9)…The eight-goal outburst tied a career-high and was one shy of the all-time MPSF record, though matched the benchmark for a conference game achieved just one other time in 1996 (Jeff Colyer-Long Beach State, vs. UCSB; 11/3/96)…Hallock added five drawn exclusions and a pair of steals, and owns an MPSF-high 57 goals on the year (3.35 GPG)…Tyler Abramson added a hat trick in the win, and is No. 2 in the conference in scoring with 49 goals (2.88 GPG)…Stanford hosts UCLA Saturday (Nov. 16) at 12 noon with the winner receiving the two seed and the loser the three seed for the MPSF Tournament…The Cardinal won the first meeting over the Bruins in a non-conference game at UCLA, 13-9 (Sept. 29).
No. 1 UCLA (1-1 MPSF, 16-2 Overall) is playing for the MPSF’s two seed Saturday in the regular season finale at Stanford… Nicolas Saveljic shared a game-high three goals, Ashworth Molthen collected a game-high four assists, and Alex Wolf had 12 saves in the home finale loss to No. 4 USC (Nov. 9)…Molthen continues to lead the MPSF in assists (39) and points (74).
No. 7 CALIFORNIA (0-2 MPSF, 12-9 Overall) Jack Deely and Safak Simsek each scored four goals in a 10-7 home win over No. 15 UC Irvine (Nov. 10)…Deely added three assists for a seven-point outing…Jordan Hoover drew four exclusions… Cal concludes its regular season Saturday (Nov. 16) against USC at 1 pm, before hosting the MPSF Tournament the following weekend (Nov. 22-24)…Cal will be seeded fourth regardless of Saturday’s outcome.
AUSTIN COLLEGE (0-0 MPSF, 3-17 Overall) Max Wade scored six goals to lead the Kangaroos to their first-ever win in three all-time meetings against Penn State Behrend, 13-8, in the second of two home games in Sherman, TX (Nov. 9)…Andrew Pope collected four steals and Zach Griffith had eight saves…Wade had four goals, while Cade Griffith and Nathan Butler added hat tricks in a 15-12 win over Ottawa (AZ) in the first home game…In their next contest, Austin and Penn State Behrend will meet again, Nov. 22 in Berkeley to determine the five and six seed for the MPSF Tournament…The ‘Roos carry their first-ever three-game win streak into the tournament.
PENN STATE BEHREND (0-0 MPSF, 6-12 Overall) fell 12-8 to Ottawa (AZ) and 13-8 to Austin College in Sherman, TX to close the regular season… Andre Sardaryzadeh recorded a hat trick, while Greg Kinzler and Isaak Hatopp each had four steals vs. Ottawa…Matt Olimski had 10 saves and five steals in that game…Olimski is the MPSF steals (34) and saves (234) leader…The Lions are next in action against Austin at 9:00 am on Nov. 22 in Berkeley to determine the five and seeds for the MPSF Tournament.