No. 1 University of Southern California Handles Emory University 22-4 in First Round of National Collegiate Club Championship

Tom Avery

2011 National Collegiate Club Championship Schedule & Results

ATLANTA, Ga. --  Pat Talbott (Sr., San Jose, Calif.) and Cem Carak (Sr., Istanbul, Turkey) both buried five goals to share Player of the Game accolades and lead nine Trojans' scorers as No. 1-ranked the University of Southern California engineered a 22-4 victory over Emory University in the opening game of the 2011 Men's National Collegiate Club Championship at Georgia Tech University.

In a match-up of the No. 1 position (USC) versus the No. 16 position (Emory) in the 16-team tournament, the Pacific Coast Division Trojans put the game away in the opening seven minutes of action against the Southeast Division runner-up Eagles with eight first period goals.

Tom Avery (Sr., San Jose, Calif.) started the offensive onslaught by breaking free for a tally just 35 seconds into the contest.  Carak followed at 5:53 before Kevin May (Sr., Carmel Valley, Calif.) connected on a blast to stake the Trojans to a 3-0 lead 29 seconds following May's marker.

Following a penalty call against Emory's Ben Brill (Gr., Frankfurt, Germany), Christian Grant (So., Huntington Beach, Calif.) ripped home the ensuing five-meter shot at 2:47 to make it 4-0.  The margin continued to balloon throughout the remainder of the period as Talbott (2:11) and Zayne Belal (Sr., Malibu, Calif.) (1:39) found the back of the cage with rising shots that eluded Eagles' netminder Allon Mordel (Gr., Atlanta, Ga.) to make it 6-0 with under 100 seconds left in the quarter clock.

However, Carak was not done in the first period heaving in natural tallies with 35 and 10 seconds left in the period to complete a hat-trick and hand USC an 8-0 lead.

The Trojans did not waiver in their offensive pressure for the remainder of the first half as Talbott tacked on tallies at 559 and 5:20 to rival Carak and complete his own hat-trick.  Carak went ahead in the game's scoring race at 3:42 notching his third consecutive and fourth overall goal at 3:42, while Avery added another strike with 49 seconds to push the lead to 12-0.

Needing to break the ice for any chance of rallying against the top-ranked Trojans, Paul Musille (Gr., Canton, Ohio) answered for Emory with 26 seconds showing on the second period clock as he split the Trojans' defense to break-up the shutout and set the scoreboard at 12-1.

The tally appeared to refuel the USC offense which rifled home seven more scores in the third period and three in the fourth, while allowing markers by Musille in the third and fourth periods and a single goal by Stephen Leech (Jr., Pasadena, Calif.) via a five-meter penalty shot in the fourth for the 22-4 final.

Overall, five Trojans' registered two or more scores in the contest, including four hat-tricks, with May and Avery joining Talbott and Carak.  Billy Evashwick (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif.) chipped in a pair of tallies, while Will Agramonte (Sr., Half Moon Bay, Calif.), Matt Bowser (Jr., Wichita, Kan.), Belal and Grant slipped in single goals to account for the Trojans' torrential offensive output.

For Emory, Musille led the way with a hat-trick, while Leech added a single goal.

Between the pipes, Jake Rudolph (Jr., Whittier, Calif.) registered four saves, including single stops in the first and third periods with a pair of blocks in the second, to notch the victory.  Mordel posted six saves for Emory, with a pair of saves in the first period, one in the second and three in the third, in suffering the loss.

Defensively, USC kept the shots down against Rudolph thanks to the field abilities of Talbott (one), Avery (one), Agramonte (one), Carak (one) and May (one) who combined for five steals.  Jordan Bru (Jr., Vestal, N.Y.) and Brill rivaled their California counterparts as both collected takeaways.

Courtesy the win, USC advances to a 9:00 a.m. meeting on Saturday, November 12 against the victor of a first round game between No. 2-ranked the University of California-Santa Cruz or No. 10 University of Oregon, while the Eagles will meet the loser of the Banana Slugs-vs.-Ducks slugfest at 9:50 p.m. this evening in the consolation bracket.

USC Goals: Pat Talbott (5); Cem Carak (5); Kevin May (3); Tom Avery (3); Billy Evashwick (2); Will Agramonte; Matt Bowser; Zayne Belal; Christian Grant

Emory Goals: Paul Musille (3); Stephen Leech

Saves: USC -  Paul Mitre (0, 7 minutes), Jake Rudolph (4, 14 minutes), Alex Arias (0, 7 minutes) ; Emory - Allon Mordel (6)

Exclusions: USC - 8 ; Emory - 5

Advantage Opportunities: USC - 2-for-5 ; Emory - 2-for-8

Sprints: USC - 2-for-4 (2nd, 3rd) ; Emory - 2-for-4 (1st, 4th)

USC's Jake Rudolph makes a save against Emory's Paul Musille