This post was updated Nov. 29 at 6:04 p.m.
It was a rematch a year in the making.
The Trojans vanquished the Bruins in last year’s MPSF championship match in a three-point affair.
But it was also a repeat of history.
No. 1 seed UCLA (24-2, 5-1 MPSF) fell to No. 2 seed USC (21-3, 3-2) 14-11 on Sunday afternoon at Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford, California, in the 2025 MPSF Championship. The defeat marked the back-to-back MPSF title hopes their crosstown rivals squashed.
Despite a Bruin audience chanting “defense” on nearly every possession, the Trojans found ways to penetrate the Westwood wall.
Although UCLA aimed for six more shot attempts through the first half, USC doubled UCLA’s score, converting on a plus-.800 goal percentage – all of which were assisted on. The Trojans’ offense was powered by a wide array of early scorers, with seven members finding the back of the net by halftime including driver Robert López Duart’s early hat trick.
Redshirt senior attacker Chase Dodd – who ended a scoring drought through the match’s first 4:22 – responded after UCLA allowed the game’s first two goals.
But there was little else to cheer for.
The Bruins posted a sub-.300 goal percentage in the first half, and they finished the game shooting .314. Much of the struggle can be credited to a USC defense that aggressively fronted UCLA drivers. Many of the Bruins’ shots were relegated to the sideline and at awkward angles, often flying far off the mark.
And goalkeeper Charles Mills had hands on many of the shots that were on target, finishing the match with 12 saves compared to redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Nate Tauscher’s three. Fourteen goals is the most Tauscher has surrendered all season, previously allowing 13 in both matchups against USC in the regular season.
The Trojans found opportunities to score but were particularly effective down low. Two-meter Jack Martin maneuvered close to the net with the ball in the second quarter, forcing Tauscher to step up and leaving Martin with a clear shot at the net. The same course of events created a 6-3 Trojan advantage less than two minutes later.
But the Bruins are not strangers to playing from behind – most recently coming back from a 3-0 deficit after its first scoreless frame this season against No. 4 California in the semifinal match Saturday. A tightened UCLA defense held the Trojans to just four second-half goals. The Bruin attack opened the second half with two goals and cut the deficit to two when redshirt junior attacker Frederico Jucá Carsalade converted a direct shot at the net for his first score of the game following three previous misses.
“Thinking about that third quarter and the start of the second quarter – coming back in the game – really gave us a lot of confidence,” Dodd said. “Even when we start badly, we can still come back. But, still, having to start down and playing down the whole game is really hard.”
However, a lack of offensive execution undermined a potential comeback. Although the Bruins kept the lead within three for most of the second half, timely Trojan scores prevented the Bruins from taking the lead – a luxury the Bruins never had for the entire affair.
Juniors attacker Wade Sherlock and utility Ben Liechty both went scoreless despite each attempting three-plus shots. The empty performances came despite both entering the final match with multiple goals across the first two postseason rounds.
And after failing to convert a seven-on-six with under 90 seconds in the affair, the trophy slipped out of UCLA’s reach.
“Nothing comes easy,” sophomore attacker Ryder Dodd said. “It doesn’t matter what happened in our past. Nothing that we do in this work comes easy. You’re not a winner until you win again. At the end of the day, we can’t look at what happened last year, what happened the week before or even this weekend. It’s an entirely different game as we move forward.”
The Bruins now look to the NCAA Tournament in early December – a crown they can protect after defeating the Trojans in the national championship game last year.
