Peter Kurzeka Is Still Making a Big Splash

Peter Kurzeka left Agoura High as a record-setting scorer with a Southern Section championship and numerous accolades to his credit.

The water polo standout's penchant for winning has not waned. As a junior driver at USC, Kurzeka has a chance to help the Trojans to a third consecutive national title when they play at this weekend's NCAA tournament at Cal.

USC opens the four-team event today against St. Francis.

"This is a big part of why I came here," Kurzeka said. "It's what I expected. Every school kind of tells you you'll have a chance to play for a title, but here they've backed it up."

Despite adjusting to a new role, higher level of play and recovering from hip surgeries the past two offseasons, Kurzeka has played a valuable part in the Trojans' success since his arrival.

He ranked fourth on the team with 30 goals as a freshman. He earned All-America honorable mention recognition as a sophomore when he scored 29 goals, including two in the championship game.

Kurzeka earned first team all-MPSF honors this season, ranking third among the Trojans with 35 goals. He scored twice in Sunday's 8-7 overtime victory over Stanford to clinch the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

"I set goals for myself to lead the team," said Kurzeka, who is a captain of this year's squad. "I take it upon myself to be a leader and keep us focused on our goal. The expectation here every year is to win a national championship. A lot of people doubted us this year. We lost so many seniors from last year. It was supposed to be a rebuilding year. We like to say we reload."

While success has remained a constant for the former U.S. Youth National Team player, Kurzeka has evolved since the days he scored a school-record 143 goals as an Agoura senior. He's gotten a chance to show he's also a skilled defender and often settles for setting up a teammate's goal rather than doing the bulk of the scoring himself.

"It was a big adjustment, especially the first two years," Kurzeka said. "Last year's class had 10 strong seniors, so I was more of a set-up player. Plus, I was playing on the opposite side of the pool from what I was used to in high school."

Then there was the matter of the hip surgeries due to torn labrums. He had to revamp his training, and the rehabilitation process left him unable to compete the past two summers  in the national program, which he hopes to earn a spot with next summer.

"I've been at full strength all season" he said. "But my legs definitely aren't the same as when I was high school,"

Kurzeka fondly remembers those high school days. He says he keeps in touch with many of his former teammates and was on hand last month when Agoura won this year's Southern Section Division IV championship. He even wrote the Chargers a letter of encouragement before the title game.

He is equally optimistic this weekend. The Trojans (26-2) are riding an 11-game winning streak and provided an indication of how much they've developed during the season when they defeated UCLA 10-2 in last weekend's MPSF semifinals after edging the Bruins by one goal in both of their first two meetings of the season. Last weekend's success moved USC back to No. 1 in the national rankings for the first time since mid-October.

"At this point, I'm just really excited and grateful for the opportunity," Kurzeka said. "It's different this time when everyone doesn't expect you to win. This year no one expected us to be here. We worked hard to get here. We're not satisfied if you don't win the last one."