The No. 1 Southern California Trojans fought their way to a 12-7 victory over the No. 10 Long Beach State men’s water polo team Saturday at the 49er Campus Pool.
There were dramatic times filled with heated exchanges and blood was drawn. The Trojans are not undefeated by playing clean, and within six minutes of the game, a frustrated Joe Sherrin of LBSU was pushed past his limits when he let off a barrage of profanities.
He was taken to the bench where a trainer could attempt to stem the bleeding from a physical exchange. In the fourth quarter, LBSU’s Kevin vanHaaster was ejected from the game for out-of-water brutality and things just got worse.
Trailing the Trojans 6-2 in the third, LBSU started to gain momentum with vanHaaster and Jake Kinne finding the net to keep pace with the Trojans. Building off the momentum from the third, Kinne scored first by muscling the ball past the goalie to make the score 7-5.
Once vanHaaster was ejected, USC was awarded a 5-meter, known as a free goal for how often the players make it. However, junior Derek Wiebe-Bailey showed his mettle by making a remarkable save.
The 10 saves Wiebe-Bailey made could not stop the Trojans from pounding their way to victory, which became clear when they scored five consecutive goals.
LBSU head coach Gavin Arroyo believes the team still has a long way to go, but said, “We had three good quarters… It reminds us we can play with the best.”
Wiebe-Bailey said a game against the nation’s best is meant to “test morale and endurance, [of] any player, any team.”
“We have endurance, we have morale,” he said. “We’ll see these guys down the road. “
The 49ers (9-10, 0-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will travel Wednesday to play UC Irvine at 7 p.m.