USC Looks To Defend MPSF Championship Title
April 28, 2005 | Women's Water Polo
April 28, 2005
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LOS ANGELES -- The No. 2 USC and defending national champion women's water polo team (21-3) competes at the 2005 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship this weekend in Berkeley, Calif. USC opens play on Friday (April 29) with an 11:30 a.m. match against the winner between No. 7 seed UC Santa Barbara and No. 10 seed San Diego State. Tournament updates will be available at calbears.collegesports.com.
RANKINGS -- USC is ranked No. 2 in the latest U.S. Women's Water Polo Top 20 Poll.
Jovan Vavic -- In his 11th season as the program's only head coach, Jovan Vavic has built the Women of Troy into a national power, laying claim to two national championships (1999 and 2004). 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. Vavic, a native of Yugoslavia, was named the National Coach of the Year and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2004. Vavic is also the head coach for the USC men's water polo team, which won the 1998 and 2003 NCAA championships.
VAVIC'S CAREER RECORD -- Jovan Vavic has a 246-93 (.726) record in his 11th season with the Women of Troy. He possesses a 181-26 (.874) mark since the program was fully funded in 1999 and an even more impressive record of 128-15 (.895) since the 2001 season.
DEFENDING THE CROWN -- The 2004 USC team became the first squad in the brief four-year history of the NCAA-sponsored championship to go undefeated with a 29-0 record. The Women of Troy defeated Loyola Marymount, 10-8, in the national championship match for the program's second national title.
NOT IN A HAZE -- Sophomore Brittany Hayes (Santa Ana) leads the Women of Troy in scoring this season with 42 goals. She recorded hat tricks in back-to-back matches on Feb. 18 against No. 8 San Diego State and Feb. 19 against No. 6 California. She led the Women of Troy with 59 goals last season, earning All-America second team honors. Hayes was the 2004 NCAA Championship most valuable player after scoring three goals and recording four assists in the national title match. With 101 career goals, Hayes is ninth on USC's career scoring list.
TWO-METER FORCE -- Junior two-meter Moriah Van Norman (San Diego) became the third USC player to win the Peter J. Cutino Award as the nation's top collegiate player (Bernice Orwig in 1999 and Aniko Pelle in 2000). She earned the award for the 2004 season after finishing second on the team in scoring with 58 goals as a dominating two-meter player. She also earned All-America first team honors. This season, Van Norman has 31 goals and is now fifth on USC's all-time scoring list with 154 career goals.
GOLD MEDAL DUO -- Sophomore utility players Brittany Hayes and Erika Figge (Rancho Santa Margarita) not only celebrated their freshman seasons at USC with the national title, but recently earned gold medals with the U.S. Junior National Team at the 2005 FINA World Junior Championship in Australia. Figge also earned All-America second team honors, scoring 33 goals last season for the Women of Troy. This season, Figge has scored 28 goals.
IN THE MIX -- Senior Sarah Mix (Huntington Beach) was the team's starter as a freshman and is the No. 1 goalie again in her final year at USC. She has appeared in 15 matches this season and registered 99 saves.
WINGING IT -- Junior Lauren Wenger (Long Beach) is having a breakout season for the Women of Troy. She is second on the team in scoring this season with 36 goals. She scored four goals on Feb. 5 in an 18-4 win against Cal State San Bernardino. In her 2003 freshman season, she registered a career-high 27 goals.
PARDO(N) THE INTERRUPTION -- Senior two-meter defender Anna Pardo (Barcelona, Spain) earned All-America second team honors last season after scoring 36 goals for the Women of Troy. Pardo competed on Spain's 2003 Senior National Team while being a member of the Junior National Team from 1997-2003. This season, she has 23 goals.
ALEXANDRA THE GREAT -- Redshirt sophomore goalie Alexandra Lopez (Commerce) has been getting some playing time in the cage this season. She registered a career-high 12 saves on Feb. 19 in a 12-8 win over No. 6 California. On the season, she has played in nine matches and recorded 41 saves.
SISTER ACT -- This season, USC has not one, but two sets of sisters on the team. Junior two-meter defender Lauren Wenger (Long Beach) and sophomore utility, Jana, comprise one sister tandem while senior driver Melissa Madrid (Commerce) is joined by her sophomore sister, Denise.
