USC halts Anteaters’ miracle MPSF run

BERKELEY — The UC Irvine men’s water polo team’s run in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship came to a disappointing end with a 10-6 title-game loss to top-ranked USC Sunday.

But Anteaters Coach Marc Hunt was anything but disappointed with his squad’s performance in the three-day event at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

“We had a great weekend,” Hunt said of his No. 5-seeded Anteaters knocking off No,. 4-seeded UCLA, 10-9, in overtime, in Friday’s quarterfinal, then stunning top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Cal, 13-12, in Saturday’s semifinal. “Those three teams have been ranked in the top three all season. That was the toughest road a team could possibly have to try and win this tournament and the boys did our program proud. To come in and go back-to-back, and take Cal down, at Cal, in front of Cal’s fans ... I think that’s the first time in eight or 10 years we’ve beaten Cal up here.”

The dream finish, however, was not to be as No. 2-seeded USC (18-2), seized a 4-1 lead after one period and was up, 6-2, at halftime.

UCI played the Trojans, who defeated the Anteaters, 9-7, in the regular-season finale Nov. 17 in their only previous meeting this season, even the final two periods, but could not make up the deficit.

UCI senior Tim Hutten scored four goals for UCI, which finishes its season 14-11. UCI will almost assuredly lose out to Cal in the bid for the lone at-large berth into the four-team NCAA Championship tournament.

USC earned the guaranteed berth, as did champions in two other conferences. Cal is 24-4.

Hunt lavished praise on Hutten, who entered the tournament leading the MPSF in goals per game (3.71 with 63 scores in 17 contests), and proceeded to score 12 in three MPSF Tournament games.

“We got some amazing play from Tim Hutten, who played all but about four minutes all weekend,” Hunt said. “USC is deeper than us — probably deeper than anyone else in the country — which is one of several reasons why [the Trojans] won.”

Freshman Brandon Johnson had five goals in the tournament, while Mello, who led the MPSF in scoring as a junior, had six tournament goals to cap a stellar career.

Johnson had two goals against USC.

Senior goalie Adam Garcia made five saves for UCI.

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation TournamentFinal USC 10, UC Irvine 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

UCI – Hutten 4, Johnson 2. Saves – Garcia 5.

USC – Sagehorn 3, Krumpholz 2, Vranes 2, Ligtenberg 1, Vyn 1, Buckner 1. Saves – Shilling 7.