Women's Water Polo Begins Five-Match Homestand
March 20, 2001 | Women's Water Polo
March 20, 2001
LOS ANGELES -- The No. 3 USC women's water polo team (14-3, 4-2) begins a five-match homestand on Thursday (March 22) against No. 19 Massachusetts.
PELLE SETS SCORING RECORD -- With her second goal in the March 17 match against Cal Baptist at the Rainbow Wahine Challenge in Honolulu, Aniko Pelle set a school record with her 143rd career goal. Pelle surpassed Christina McCall, who scored 142 goals during her career (1995-97). Pelle currently has 146 career goals.
RANKINGS -- USC is ranked No. 3 in the latest U.S. Women's Water Polo Top 20 Poll.
NOTES & STATS -- The Trojans have outscored their opponents this season by a 202-99 margin and have scored 10 or more goals in 14 out of 17 matches...the Trojans have outscored their opponents, 65-24, in the first period this season and 54-16 in the second period.
JOVAN VAVIC -- In his seventh season as the program's only head coach, Jovan Vavic has built the Trojans into a national power, which culminated with the 1999 national championship. He oversaw the program's move from Division II to Division I in 1996. In 1997, the Trojans made their first-ever Division I National Championships appearance with a seventh-place finish while the 1998 team finished in fifth place. Last year, the Women of Troy finished second in the nation. In 1999, Vavic, a native of Yugoslavia, was named the National Coach of the Year and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year. Vavic is also the head coach for the USC men's water polo team, which won the 1998 NCAA championship.
VAVIC'S CAREER RECORD -- Jovan Vavic has a 132-81 (.620) record in seven years with the Women of Troy.
USC GETS PRESEASON NOD AS NO. 1 TEAM -- USC was named as the No. 1 ranked team in a preseason preview by Sports Illustrated for Women. Nina Wengst and Aniko Pelle are pictured in the March/April 2001 issue.
ANIKO PELLE -- Junior Aniko Pelle (Budapest, Hungary) is off to another strong start as one of the nation's top offensive players. This season, she is third on the team with 30 goals after an outstanding 2000 season. On March 17 against Cal Baptist, she passed Christina McCall (1995-97) for first place on the all-time goal-scoring list with her 143rd goal. Last year, Pelle led the team with 64 goals and earned the Peter J. Cutino Award as the nation's top female water polo player. She also earned All-America first team honors and was named 2000 MPSF Field Player of the Year. Pelle recorded eight goals, including three in the championship match vs. UCLA, at the Southern California Regional. She was named to the All-Tournament first-team for her efforts. She earned All-America first team honors as a freshman after leading the team with 52 goals. She was also a member of the Hungarian National Team, who took part in the 1999 European Championships and the 1999 Fina Cup.
NINA WENGST -- Junior two-meter Nina Wengst (Krefeld, Germany) is fourth on the team with 25 goals. Last season, she finished second on the team with 63 goals and earned All-America first team honors. She also earned Southern California Regional first-team All-Tournament and MPSF first-team honors. She scored a season-high seven goals in the 2000 season opener on Feb. 10 in the Trojans' 12-8 win at San Diego State and was featured in the May/June 2000 issue of Sports Illustrated for Women as part of the "Faces In The Crowd" section. She earned 1999 All-America honorable mention honors. Wengst was also a member of the German National Team, who took part in the 1999 European Championships.
SOFIA KONOUKH -- The USC program added a top-notch player in junior Sofia Konoukh (Chelyabinsk, Russia) this season. Konoukh was a member of the Russian team that won the bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. This season, she leads the team with 49 goals. Konoukh was named most valuable player at the Rainbow Wahine Challenge in Honolulu (March 16-17) after recording 14 goals in three matches. She registered a team-high five goals on Feb. 17 in a 12-5 win at UC Santa Barbara.
KONOUKH EARNS MPSF/MIKASA HONOR -- Junior Sofia Konoukh was named MPSF/Mikasa Player of the Week on Feb. 19 for recording seven goals in two matches. She scored a team-high five goals in a 12-5 win at No. 8 UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 17 and added two goals in a 9-4 win vs. No. 7 Long Beach State.
KATRIN DIEROLF -- Sophomore Katrin Dierolf (Esslingen, Germany) is second on the team this season with 31 goals. She was the Women of Troy's leading scorer in three of four matches at the UC Santa Barbara Tournament and had a total of 12 goals. On March 3 at San Jose State, Dierolf and teammate Sofia Konoukh had four goals each in a 10-6 win. Dierolf was third on the team last year with 42 goals, earning All-America honorable mention honors. She led the team with three goals in the national semifinal match in a 10-5 win over Stanford and scored three goals in the national championship match against UCLA. She has played on the German National Team and was the youngest German player ever to take part in a Senior European Championships (1995).
FUN IN THE SUN -- The Women of Troy used its spring break to travel to Hawaii for an MPSF match and participate in the Rainbow Wahine Challenge. USC defeated Hawaii, 13-6, on March 15 in the MPSF match and won the tournament with wins over Washington (19-1), Cal Baptist (18-4) and Hawaii (14-6). Sofia Konoukh was named most valuable player while Aniko Pelle, Nina Wengst and Katrin Dierolf were named to the all-tournament team.
