UCLA players and coaches celebrate their win against USC in the NCAA Championship final match at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA Adam Wright talks to his players during the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA players and coaches celebrate their win against USC in the NCAA Championship final match at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA players and coaches celebrate their win against USC in the NCAA Championship final match at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA players and coaches celebrate their win against USC in the NCAA Championship final match at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA players and coaches celebrate their win against USC in the NCAA Championship final match at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA players and coaches celebrate their win against USC in the NCAA Championship final match at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA’s Jesse Camou shoots the ball in the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA’s Jesse Camou passes the ball in the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA’s Max Irving defends against Matteo Morelli in the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA’s Jesse Camou defends against Grant Stein ball in the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA’s Max Irving and Jack Grover block a shot by Lachlan Edwards late in the fourth period during the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA’s Jesse Camou shoots the ball over Grant Stein in the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA goalie Alex Wolf has a save late in the fourth period in the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
USC’s Marko Vavic passes the ball in the NCAA Championship final match against UCLA at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
USC’s Matteo Morelli shoots the ball in the NCAA Championship final match against UCLA at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
USC’s Marin Dasic shoots the ball in the NCAA Championship final match against UCLA at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
USC’s Marin Dasic shoots the ball in the NCAA Championship final match against UCLA at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
USC fans cheer their team during the NCAA Championship final match against UCLA at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA fans cheer their team during the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
USC’s Bryce Hoerman shoots the ball over Austin Rone in the NCAA Championship final match against UCLA at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
USC’s Bryce Hoerman is defended by Austin Rone in the NCAA Championship final match against UCLA at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA’s Alex Roles shoots the ball during the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
USC’s Marko Vavic shoots the ball in the NCAA Championship final match against UCLA at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA’s Max Irving shoots the ball during the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA’s Max Irving shoots the ball during the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
UCLA’s Max Irving shoots the ball during the NCAA Championship final match against USC at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
USC coach Jovan Vavic talks to his players during the NCAA Championship final match against UCLA at Uytengsu Aquatics Center at USC in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3, 2017. (Photo by Axel Koester/Contributing Photographer)
LOS ANGELES — In the closing seconds of a one-goal game, UCLA goalkeeper Alex Wolf decided to take USC and the NCAA Water Polo Championships final deep, floating a pool-length shot that sailed over Trojans goalkeeper McQuin Baron, splashing down in the USC goal.
Wolf’s rocket launch wasn’t so much an insurance goal as it was the exclamation mark on a 7-5 UCLA victory Sunday afternoon that seemed inconceivable when the season started and nearly as much of a long shot as the Bruins struggled through a first half of troubled waters at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center on the USC campus.
The Bruins survived a pair of two-goal deficits, a missed penalty shot and a barrage of Trojans scoring opportunities in the opening half in a battle of ancient rivals co-ranked No. 1 nationally to rebound behind Wolf’s goalkeeping and secure their 11th NCAA title, the third in the past five seasons.
“The reality is nobody believed in us but ourselves,” UCLA coach Adam Wright said.
Despite UCLA losing nine players from 2016 class that won two NCAA crowns and played for another, history, if not the preseason polls, suggested Trojans and Bruins would once again collide on the final weekend of the college season.
“The reality is that it’s always been a battle between the programs long before we were here,” Wright said. “I think it’s intensified the last 10 years. We seem to constantly run into each other whether it’s a tournament, a preseason tournament or a postseason tournament. The reality is it’s two great teams and it’s always going to be close.”
Indeed the two schools in college water polo’s NC-17 rivalry had decided five of the past eight national championship games, the Bruins winning the last two meetings in the NCAA final, 2015, 2014, the Trojans taking the other three including an 11-10 victory in the 2012 title game on the USC campus that continued to sting in Westwood for years.
“We were right where we needed to be and we let it slip away,” Wright said of the 2012 loss. “That one hurt for a long, long time.”
Sunday’s heartbreak will likely linger just as long across town. After winning six consecutive NCAA titles, the Trojans have now lost four straight national championship games. A year ago USC lost to Cal in overtime and Sunday, like UCLA five years earlier, the Trojans had the game and the NCAA title in their grasp but could not hold on.
“It’s been a long, long time since my senior class didn’t win a title,” USC coach Jovan Vavic.
The Trojans jumped to a quick 2-0 lead before a standing-room-only crowd in an electric atmosphere and a match every bit as nasty and profane as its predecessors. After Trojans driver Matteo Morelli scored on an outside shot with 6:42 left in the opening period, Baron stopped Max Irving’s penalty shot. Mario Dasic made it 2-0 with a shot from the point at 1:51 with time running out of on the shot clock.
But for all of USC’s early domination the half will be remembered for the Trojans failure to convert a series of scoring chances.
“We had every opportunity to have a three or four goal lead and we didn’t convert,” Vavic said. “And that came back to haunt us.”
So would All-America 2-meter Lachlan Edwards’ suspension for the title game after picking up brutality call in Saturday’s semifinal against Cal.
Down 3-1 midway through the third period, UCLA began to make the Trojans pay for the missed chances.
“We didn’t start to play until the middle of the third period,” Wright said. “We were able to get the game to where we wanted it in the middle of the third period and these guys just dug deep.”
Matt Farmer tied it up 3-3 from close in with 3:33 left in the third. USC came right back with a James Walter goal 30 seconds later but it was clear momentum had shifted. Irving redeemed himself for the missed penalty with a goal which was followed by Alex Roelse goal and a 5-4 Bruins lead with :44 left in the period. After USC tied the match, Farmer put the Bruins up for good 6-5 early in the fourth period.
At the final horn, Wright, fully dressed, led his bench in leaping into the pool, the celebratory splashes finally washing away the sting of a wound that was always too close to home.
