Welcome Ladies and Gentleman to the live blog for tonight's game where your USC Trojans will take on the SDSU Aztecs here at the Kroc Arena in San Diego, California. USC is coming off a tough season opening loss against Long Beach State 4-3, in which Sophomore Goalie Alex Caravaggio took 55 shots against, while holding the 49ers to just 4 goals. Look for Caravaggio to continue to hold his own against the team that he opened up his USC career against. I will be live blogging this game, so continue to refresh the page to get streaming updates from me, James Anderson, throughout the evening.
As we wind down here in the warm-up, USC lines tonight headlined by the fact that Sophomore James Huebner will not be playing due to an illness. So therefore, the lines will look like this:
Morris-Waschenfelder-Dragatto
Comisar-Kucinski-Zacuto
Griesbach-Newman-Knight
Stommel-Bieber-Peters-Dawson
Walker-Caravaggio
Hite-Manning
Mowrey Duffy
The game begins with the Aztecs dominating in the Trojan end. After a minute and a half, Aztecs break through Caravaggio after a nifty move in the defensive zone by an Aztec forward. SDSU leads it by a score of 1-0. Aztecs are continuing to dominate in the Trojan end, and USC has barely been able to get it out of the zone. The physical play has stepped up in the SC zone, however, and the Trojans are really attempting to establish a physical preference early in this game. Whistle blows at 14:57 with USC still down 1-0. Faceoff in the USC zone won by SDSU, and the domination continues by the Aztecs. Manning is able to clear it out if only for a second just to give the Trojans a breath, and allowing the forwards to get a change. Except for the one mishap, Caravaggio is stonewalling the SDSU forwards so far. Faceoff after an icing gives the Aztecs the puck back in the zone, and with no rest Hite is forced to take a bad penalty, 2 minutes for hooking. USC penalty at 13:41 remaining not a helpful start for the Trojans.
USC penalty kill is led right now by Zacuto and Comisar, they kill it off for a minute before allowing Griesbach and Newman to come on. An unfortunate deflection in front of the net gives the Aztecs another goal, a power play goal at 12:17 by Dustin Holt, and SDSU continues to dominate in the Trojan end. SDSU takes a penalty now so the Trojans move onto the power play at 11:40. USC trying to control the puck in the Aztec zone, and are trying to get a good shot. SDSU gets it out with 1:20 left in the penalty, and USC will have to regroup. Another whistle for icing against the Trojans brings the puck back into the SC end. SC having a lot of trouble against this Aztec penalty kill, wasting a lot of time trying to break it out. Trojans finally establish a power play, but the puck travels down to the SC zone again, and bad defensive plays force Caravaggio to cover it up. SC is unable to do much on the power play as SDSU continues to dominate at both ends of the ice. Halfway through the period USC still down 2-0.
SDSU roughing penalty puts SC back on the power play. Trojans begin the power play again having trouble breaking it out of their own zone, but Zacuto takes into his own hands, going end to end before getting a good shot off. USC back in the SDSU zone trying to establish something on the power play, but still can't. The Aztecs penalty killers really have the Trojans number and USC is trying to battle back on the physical side. Good physical play has been the lone bright spot on an otherwise dismal power play as they are now 0-2 on the power play with only 3 shots. Full strength again.
USC now trying to pull even, with much of the play staying in the neutral zone. USC, however, loses whatever momentum they gained with another big SDSU rush. Faceoff again in the Trojan end with just over 5 remaining. SDSU scores off a bad breakout attempt by the Trojan's fourth line, going up 3-0 with 5:02 remaining here in the first period. USC really needs stronger play by all four lines if they want to stay in this game and give Caravaggio a chance to catch his breath. USC again trying to use physical play to keep the puck down in the Aztec zone, but a bad offsides call brings the puck down into the Trojan end. First solid breakout I've seen by the Trojans leads to a bad turnover in the neutral zone, and USC is back on the defensive. SDSU continues to cycle down in the Trojan zone before a save stops the play at 3:30 remaining. Scrum in front of the net shows the frustration on the USC side. Faceoff won by USC and they bring it all the way down into the Aztec end. Off sides call at 3:07 brings the faceoff back into the neutral zone.
Down to the final 3 minutes, SDSU wins the faceoff and brings it all the way down into the Trojan end. A weak breakout gives the Trojans a chance to breath, until finally they get it all the way down into the Aztec zone, if only for a moment. Quick turnover and breakout puts the Trojans back into their own zone as we are now under 2 minutes left. Great breakout by the Trojans leads to a USC goal!!!!!!!! Big goal by Junior Thomas Waschenfelder assisted by Dragatto at 1:47 remaining puts USC back into this game. Unfortunately, bad charging penalty by Comisar takes away a lot of that momentum, and USC is forced back onto the penalty kill. USC dumps it down not once but twice, as we are now under 1 minute. USC just trying to keep SDSU off the scoreboard and keep this a 2 goal game. Defense playing very conservatively. SDSU sets up the cycle again and Caravaggio comes up with a big save with 7.6 seconds left. Faceoff won by the Aztecs and a last second shot goes wide, ending the period. USC heads into the locker room down 3-1 after a momentum saving goal by Waschenfelder keeps the Trojans right in this game. We'll be right back with the second period here in San Diego.
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