Dec. 2, 2006
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- No. 1-ranked USC jumped out to a 7-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back, cruising past the 11th-ranked Navy water polo, 20-3, in the national semifinals, hosted by Loyola Marymount University. The loss snaps Navy's 14-game winning streak and sends the Mids into Sunday's third-place match.
"We pretty much ran into a buzzsaw against USC. It will defintely be the two best teams playing in the country tomorrow and we ran into one of them," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield.
Offensive highlights were few and far between for Navy as it faced the nation's top defense. The Trojans would lead 9-0 before Tyler Hill got the Mids on the board at the 4:41 mark remaining in the second quarter. USC scored the next two goals to push the lead to 11-1, before Todd Carlson scored with 2:30 remaining before halftime. USC tallied the last goal of the half for a 12-2 halftime advantage.
Tyler Hill would score Navy's last goal of the game at the 4:52 mark in the third quarter to trim the USC advantage to 13-3. The Trojans scored the last seven goals of the game for the 20-3 decision. Hill led Navy with two goals and Carlson scored one. George Naughton made four saves in a little over three quarters of action, and Steve Craney came in on relief to make four saves.
"If there was any silver lining, and it wasn't a very bright one, is that I thought Tyler Hill, Todd Carlson and Mike Mulvey all played well today," said Schofield. "We just worked over and need to regroup and get after it tomorrow and get a win."
Navy, now owners of a 24-6 record, will battle UC-San Diego, at 3:00 p.m. (EST) tomorrow. California defeated the Tritons, 17-7.
# GO NAVY #
