The 2012 NorCal Invitational was a great weekend of games and the final four was as expected with the top four teams in the country advancing to the semi finals. The championship game was against No. 1 USC Trojans holding of the No. 2 ranked UCLA Bruins to win their third straight NorCal Invitational.
USC showed their dominance early as they raced out to a 3-0 lead after the first quarter, and actually were up 5-0 before UCLA scored their first goal. This game could have gotten out of hand, but USC allowed UCLA get back in this game and make interesting. UCLA made it 5-2 at the half and trailed 6-4 heading into the final quarter. UCLA made it a one-goal final score since they scored their sixth goal as time expired.
USC was led by Nikola Vavic who scored four goals, other goals came from Jeremy Davie, Kostas Genidounias and Michael Rosenthal, while James Clark was in the goal and blocked 11 shots.
With the early 5-0 lead, it just shows that USC is far and away the best team in the country. Not sure how the second half really went with UCLA's comeback since I did not see the game, but boat racing the No. 2 in the country early on should be a message for other teams.
Yes, USC was taken to overtime against the Stanford Cardinal in the semifinals, but part of that can be contributed to playing at the home pool for Stanford. Plus, the Cardinal are the No. 4 team in the country, so it should have been a challenge.
Here is the box score for the title game:
1 2 3 4 F
UCLA 0 2 2 2 6
USC 3 2 1 1 7
UCLA Goals: Aimone Barabino, Danny McClintick, Lucas Reynolds, Paul Reynolds, Josh Samuels, Griffin White
UCLA Saves: Matt Rapacz 15
USC Goals: Nikola Vavic 4, Jeremy Davie, Michael Rosenthal, Kostas Genidounias
USC Saves: James Clark 11