University Southern California Trojans
No. 1 USC Sets Up For Gaucho Invitational
February 23, 2006 | Women's Water Polo
Feb. 23, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
THIS WEEK: The top-ranked Women of Troy head into their second tournament of the season with a trip to UC Santa Barbara for the Gaucho Invitational, held Feb. 25-26. All 16 of the top-16 teams in the nation will be competing in the tournament. No. 1 USC is grouped with No. 9 San Diego State, No. 8 Arizona State and Brown, opening tourney play at 9 a.m. against Brown on Saturday (Feb. 25) at the Rec Center Pool. A win would put USC up against the SDSU-ASU winner at 1:40 p.m., and a loss would have the Trojans play at 2:50 p.m. Winner's bracket play commences at the Campus Pool on Sunday, while consolation bracket action is held at the RecCen Pool. Also competing in the 16-team tournament are No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 LMU, No. 5 Hawai'i, No. 6 California, No. 7 Long Beach State, No. 10 San Jose State, No. 11 host UC Santa Barbara, No. 12 Michigan, No. 13 UC Irvine, No. 14 UC Davis and No. 15 UC San Diego.
RANKINGS: USC (8-0) remains the nation's top-ranked team for the second week.
WEEKEND RECAP: The No. 1 Women of Troy had a successful trip up north with a 7-5 win over No. 6 California and a 19-2 win over Pacific. The Trojans got another stingy performance from goalie Whitney Morgan against the Bears, as the redshirt freshman pinned up 10 saves in the win, while seven different scorers accounted for USC's seven goals in the game. The Trojans dominated their visit to the Tigers' pool, with Jordan Anae and Veronika Bartunkova each posting four-goal performances in the big win, which extended USC's win streak to eight games for this week's trip to the Gaucho Inviatational.
TOURNEY TIME: Then ranked No. 2, the Women of Troy started the 2006 season off right by powering its way to the Stanford Invitational championship with a 10-8 win over top-ranked UCLA. The No. 2 Women of Troy clamped down on the Bruins in the fourth quarter, holding UCLA scoreless while punching in two more goals to break an 8-8 tie and nail down the tournament crown. The Trojans were equally effective during group play, as they rolled through all comers to gain momentum for the title match. The Trojans got a powerful start to the Invitational action with a 13-4 win over No. 11 San Jose State in the morning, then notched a 9-7 victory over host Stanford in the afternoon. To close out group play, USC went up against No. 7 Michigan on Sunday morning and took an 8-0 lead in the first quarter to lock away a 16-3 win. Moriah Van Norman and Patty Cardenas each hit high marks during that weekend, as VanNorman punched in four goals against Michigan, and Cardenas matched that output witha four-goal performance against UCLA. The win marks USC's second Stanford Invitational victory. The Trojans last won the tourney crown in 2004 when the Women of Troy went on to win the NCAA Championship.
USC VS. BROWN: This will be the first-ever meeting between USC and Brown.
USC VS. ARIZONA STATE: USC is 3-0 all-time against the Sun Devils. The last contest between the two was a tight one, with the Trojans pulling out a 9-8 victory in MPSF play on April 15, 2005.
USC VS. SAN DIEGO STATE: USC is 20-9 all-time against the Aztecs. The pair met twice last season, with the Trojans posting a 12-7 win early in the season, and then winning 9-7 during the MPSF tournament.
GOODNIGHT AND GOOD LUCK: USC has been taking care of business in the fourth quarter so far this season, having locked away big wins over Stanford and UCLA at the Stanford Invitational with stingy fourth-period defense. The Women of Troy didn't give up more than a single goal in the final frame during all four games at the Stanford Invitational. Against UCLA, the Trojans pitched a shutout while tacking up a pair of goals of their own to lock away the championship and snap UCLA's 39-game winning streak.
PATTY'S DAY: Junior Patty Cardenas didn't waste much time proving herself as an impact player in her first year with the Women of Troy. A newcomer from Golden West College whose transfer was kept on hold for a season, Cardenas turned plenty of heads at the Stanford Invitational when she made UCLA heads spin with a four-goal outburst against the Bruins that helped the Trojans clamp down on the tournament championship. For her efforts at the tourney, Cardenas was named MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week.
MORGAN ON HER MARK: Redshirt freshman goalie Whitney Morgan saw the first action of her Trojan career at the Stanford Invitational. Morgan capped up for all four games and set a high mark for her USC career with 10 saves against Michigan on Feb. 12. She finished the tournament averaging 6.5 saves per game. The very next weekend at Cal, Morgan matched her career mark with 10 saves against the Bears.
SUPER SENIORS: Five Women of Troy are closing out their USC playing careers this season: Alex Lopez, Anna Pardo, Bianca Simonetti, Moriah Van Norman and Lauren Wenger. Lopez and Simonetti both redshirted a season at Troy, but will graduate after the 2006 season. Pardo entered USC as a sophomore from Spain and has been a vital member of USC's gameplan as a staunch defender and powerful scorer with 65 career goals. Van Norman has been USC's go-to player at two meters and sits as the Trojans' all-time fifth leading scorer with 168 career goals. Wenger was USC's second leading scorer as a junior and boasts 94 career goals.
INTERNATIONAL WATERS: Several members of the 2006 Trojan squad have been spending busy summers well outside the confines of Troy. USC sent four current players to the 2005 World Championships -- three as members of the USA's silver-medalist squad, and one member of Spain's national team. Senior Anna Pardo has played in two world championships with Spain as a mainstay on the Spanish national team. Seniors Moriah Van Norman and Lauren Wenger and junior Erika Figge all helped the U.S. National Team claim silver at this 2005 Worlds. That threesome as well as junior Brittany Hayes and freshman Kami Craig all continue to train with the U.S. National Team as Team USA works toward a third Olympic medal at the 2008 Games.
VAVIC ON DECK: Head coach Jovan Vavic, one of the top water polo coaches in the country, serves a dual role as the head coach of both the USC men's and women's teams. He has been with the USC women's program since its inception in 1995, and has led his men's and women's teams to national championships twice in the same school year (the men in 1998 and 2003 and the women in 1999 and 2004). In his 11th season at the helm of the men's program, Vavic led the Trojans to the 2005 NCAA championship. His 2006 Women of Troy have an equally good opportunity to grab their third national championship this season. Vavic brings a 250-95 all-time record on the women's side into his the 2006 season -- his 12th as the women's head coach. Vavic pulled a coaching double sweep when he was named 2003 National Coach of the Year and MPSF Coach of the Year for the men and 2004 National Coach of the Year and MPSF Coach of the Year for the women, and he was named 2005 MPSF and National Coach of the Year once again on the men's side following the Trojans' most recent NCAA title. His 2004 women's team became the first team in NCAA Championship history to go undefeated (29-0) during the regular season.
