Los Angeles, California – The Men in Cardinal and Gold improved their record to 6-2 with a 7-5 win over conference rival Claremont College yesterday.  The Claremont Cougars were first to score in the game, with a quick shot early in the first quarter off a face-off.  That goal was soon matched by an unassisted solo by sophomore attackman Jordan Levitz (Chicago, Ill. / Adelai E. Stevenson) to tie the score at 1 at the end of the first quarter.  From there, excellent riding pressure from the Trojans led to another goal by Levitz and one by senior midfielder Matthew Williams (Chapel Hill, Nc. / Durham Academy) to end the half with a 3-1 Trojan lead.

The third quarter saw an onslaught of Trojan shots, with only 3 finding the back of the Cougars goal.  Contributing these goals were Williams, sophomore midfielder Ricky Giancola (Centennial, Co. / Cherry Creek), and midfielder Andrew Smulligan (Lowell, Mass. / Lowell High School).

The Cougars made a strong final push in the fourth quarter, getting an early goal with 17 minutes left and quickly dumping in 3 more with under 2 minutes to play.  However, it wouldn’t be enough as time ran out.  With an additional 4th quarter goal for the Trojans by Williams, the final tally was 7-5, promoting the Trojans to an overall record of 6-2 and an SLC conference record of 1-1.

The Trojan defense, led by sophomore goalie Jeff Barton (Englewood, Co. / Cherry Creek), put forth a herculean effort against a shifty Cougar offense.  Barton stopped 79% of the shots he faced, and had strong defensive assistance from senior long stick midfielder Jeff Gleiberman (San Diego, Ca. / Torrey Pines) who knocked down or intercepted three passes and had two ground balls.  Sophomore defenseman Kameron Burke (McMurray, Pa. / Peters Township), freshman defenseman Will Indvik (Bainbridge Island, Wa. / Bainbridge), and junior defenseman JJ Pontes (Coronado, Ca. / Coronado) managed to shut down the Cougar offense for much of the game and kill all four Trojan penalties.

USC faces #2 ranked Chapman at home next week, 4/8/2010 at 7pm PST in another SLC conference battle, which will have significant implications for the Trojans playoff bid.

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College Station, TX

“This game we began to see our middies find their match-ups and captalize offensively. The offense has been coming out firing in the first half, with a lot of different faces hitting the net”, Duddridge said of the USC offense.  Going into the half, the Trojans led 8-5.  After halftime, it was the defense that would make the difference, especially since penalties continued to dog the Trojans.

“Defensively we did a lot to put ourselves at a disadvantage considering the number of penalties that we tallied up, but we were still able to come together and dig ourselves out of the hole. The man down unit finished the day with a strong success ratio”, commented goalie Jeff Barton (Englewood, CO/Cherry Creek).  Barton’s quick hands kept the Men of Troy in the game multiple times, making clutch one-on-one saves in the waning minutes of the third and fourth quarters.

As the final seconds of the 4th quarter wound down, the Trojans looked to be victorious, leading the Aggies 10-9.  But with 3 seconds left on the clock, a scrum developed in front of the Trojan goal, and a ground ball was flipped into the net by A&M, dashing USC’s hopes for a regular-time victory.

The overtime clock wasn’t going to tick for long, though, as another crucial save by Barton led the Trojans into a transition.  Senior Midfielder and Captain Kase Lawal (Houston, TX /Kinkaid) would lead the Trojan clear into an offensive attack.  With a quick split dodge, Lawal found enough separation from his defender that he could fire a 12-yard shot that found rope and ended the game.

“It Started as a normal clear, and then the wing attackman, Jordan [Levitz], led his man away from me, leaving a lot of room for me to dodge and shoot.  I’m just glad we didn’t give the game up”, quipped Lawal, who had 3 goals on the day.  Barton added “It takes a lot of composure to get scored on with three seconds left and turn around and win in overtime, so i’m proud of my team for being able to pull it off.”

On the day and the weekend as a whole, Lawal said “It was a hard fought game. I’m glad we came out with the win, we just have to stay consistent through the rest of the season and not let up towards the end.  Overall it was a nice three W’s.”

Head Coach David Aktary said of the wins “we played well this weekend.  I don’t think we are yet playing to our full potential, but we’re getting there.  It’s nice to see both the defensive and offensive units gelling… there is communication and anticipation now that wasn’t there just a week ago.  Our experience from this weekend will go a long way to prepare us as we head into our conference games.”

With a record of 4-2 after this weekend, USC plays at conference rival Claremont College next Saturday at 2pm.  For more information on USC Men’s Lacrosse, visit www.usclacrosse.com