NCAA Water Polo : UCLA Defeats USC, 13-10; Cal Advances Past Stanford

A barrage of outside shooting carried UCLA to a 13-10 victory over USC Saturday night in the semifinals of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. water polo tournament at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach.

Alexis Rousseau scored 8 goals for the Bruins, who will play California tonight at 7:30 for the championship.

Top-seeded Cal (32-3) advanced to the final with a 10-6 victory over Stanford.

UCLA (29-4) carried out its game plan with a perimeter attack on Trojan goalie Brent Kimball.

“We’ve played them so many times, we knew their goalie is vulnerable to outside shooting,” UCLA Coach Bob Horn said.

Horn also credited the Bruin defense and goalie Mike VanderWaerdt for holding USC scoreless in the third period.

Down 7-3 early in the second quarter, USC came back but could get no closer than 2 goals. Rob Carver scored his fourth goal with 1:46 to play to cut UCLA’s lead to 12-10, but Rousseau scored with 38 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

Cal, which was led by Julian Bailey and Chris Humbert with 3 goals each in its victory over Stanford, will be trying for its second straight title. Cal and UCLA split 4 matches this season.