Former Villa Park goalie Matt Rapacz, far left, made 11 saves and six former county players scored one goal apiece to help the UCLA men’s water polo team earn an automatic berth to the NCAA championships with an 10-9 victory against top-ranked and visiting USC in the MPSF tournament final Sunday.
UCLA won on a goal 54 seconds into sudden-death overtime by Cristiano Mirarchi, a sophomore who has played for the Italian national team.
The Bruins also defeated Pepperdine (Friday) and Cal (Saturday) en route to the MPSF tournament title, which sends them to the NCAA tournament this weekend at Cal.
