USC Faces Its Second Choice, Stanford, in Water Polo Final

A group of Trojan players were quietly rooting for Pepperdine to beat Stanford last weekend during the championship game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo tournament at Newport Harbor High.

USC, which had lost to Stanford in the MPSF semifinals, was a lock to get the at-large berth to this weekend’s NCAA tournament because of its overall record, so the battle for the national title would most likely come down to a game against the Stanford-Pepperdine winner.

Did the Trojans think it would be easier to beat the fourth-ranked Waves than No. 2 Stanford?

“I don’t think that was it,” USC co-Coach John Williams said. “I think they were hoping for a revenge game. It would have been great to beat them in the finals this year.” Last year, Pepperdine beat USC, 8-7, in overtime to win the national title.

Today at 3 at Corona del Mar High’s Marian Bergeson Aquatics Center, the top-ranked Trojans (24-3) will have to settle for a victory over Stanford (21-6) if they are to win their first NCAA water polo title.

USC has been in the final five of the last six years, but it’s expecting a different outcome today.

“I think we’re prepared to play our best water polo of the season,” Williams said after the Trojans beat UMass, 12-3, Friday night.

Stanford, which struggled to a 6-3 victory over UC San Diego Friday, isn’t likely to be as confident. Asked to assess his team’s performance after that game, Cardinal Coach Dante Dettamanti said, “We did not play well at all.”

No. 10 UC San Diego (17-12) meets No. 11 UMass (27-5) in the third-place game at 1:30 today.