USC Water Polo Looks Like Worldbeater

The USC men’s water polo team has been a hard one for opponents to figure this season. There’s only American player in the top five, and the names on the roster may seem a bit difficult to pronounce, but once the Trojans start the game, they leave little doubt they’re worth talking about.

Hungarian George Csaszar (Chaw-zar), Croat Marko Pintaric (Pin-tar-ich), Yugoslav Ivan Babic (E-von Baw-bich) and Slovak Peter Janov (Yaw-nawv) have led the Trojans to a 17-1 record and the nation’s top ranking. And much of the credit goes to their Yugoslav co-head coach.

Jovan Vavic (Yo-von Vaw-vich), who came to USC as an assistant in 1992, did much of his overseas recruiting last winter.

“We paid for Jovan to go to the world championships at Perth [Australia] out of the water polo booster fund,” John Williams, the other co-head coach, said. “That’s how he met and was able to stay in contact with the players.”

Csaszar has not only been a contributor, but has made the biggest splash in the nation in 1998.

He leads the Trojans with 38 goals and 43 points, fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Csaszar learned about USC from Vavic while playing at the world championships.

“Jovan met my father in January,” Csaszar said. “He was looking for a lefty and I am a lefty. So then he met with me.”

One reason Vavic recruited European players is experience superior to most American players’. Water polo is played year-round in Europe and kids begin younger.

Csaszar said the reason he and his European teammates are successful is simpler than differences in style of play:

“It is easier here because the water polo players are not as good here.”

While Csaszar leads the team in scoring, Pintaric, Janov and Babic are second, fourth and fifth, respectively. Only Pintaric, in his second season at USC, played in Division I before this season.

Hacienda Heights’ Eric Castle, the top American, said the international players have not only made a smooth transition to college water polo, but have adjusted to their teammates, as well.

“The team took to these foreign guys better than ever before,” Castle said. “The younger guys didn’t know what to expect with the European guys.

“The older guys helped the younger guys with how to act with the foreign players. The team grew a lot closer and now we’re more of a team.”

Csaszar agreed the players have made the transition to college life easier.

“The guys helped me out a lot in life,” he said. “If they go to a football game, they call me to see if I want to go.”

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With the fall season ending next weekend, USC golfer Jennifer Rosales has again asserted herself as the top female golfer in the nation.

The reigning NCAA champion, Rosales took over the No. 1 spot Oct. 7, after the Bama Fall Preview at Tulsa, Okla. She finished in a seventh-place tie there, less than two weeks after finishing second at the Dick McGuire Invitational at Albuquerque, a tournament the Trojans won. Over the weekend, she led the Trojans to a second-place finish at the Rolex Match Play team championships, defeating U.S. Open runner-up Jenny Chuasiriporn of Duke, 3 and 1. Rosales has a 73.4-stroke average and has led the Trojans in every tournament this season.

The nine-tournament spring season will begin Feb. 8 at the SMU-Ohio State-USC Regional Challenge at Palos Verdes Estates.

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All three local Division I conferences held their cross-country championship meets over the weekend, and the highest finish by any local team was seventh. The Loyola Marymount men and Pepperdine women finished seventh in the West Coast Conference, and the USC women were seventh in the Pac-10.

USC’s 5-4 upset of No. 11 UCLA in women’s soccer leaves four teams tied atop the Pac-10 with two losses and one weekend remaining in the regular season. Unfortunately, Kim Clark, the Trojans’ leading scorer, broke her leg in the final minutes. She will be out at least six weeks. USC’s Courtney Barham was named Pac-10 player of the week after scoring twice, her second goal the game winner in the 89th minute. . . . The Bruins also fell to the Trojans in one of the closest women’s volleyball matches of the year, 15-6, 15-11, 9-15, 11-15, 18-16. . . . The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team (22-0, 12-0), still No. 1 in the nation, hosts UC Santa Barbara (22-3, 11-1) Saturday for first place in the Big West.