No. 1 USC Rolls Into MPSF Tournament As Top Seed
April 26, 2006 | Women's Water Polo
April 26, 2006
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THIS WEEK: The top-ranked Women of Troy carries its undefeated 24-0 record into this week's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament, held April 27-30 at UC Irvine. As the top seed, USC earns a bye in the first day of action and will open its tournament run against either San Diego State at 12:30 p.m. on Friday (April 28). A win would put the Trojans in the semifinals with a match at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Sunday's placement games have the third-place game scheduled for 1:30 p.m., and the MPSF championship match is at 2:45 p.m.
RANKINGS: USC (24-0, 12-0 MPSF) is the nation's top-ranked team for the 11th straight week.
WEEKEND RECAP: USC closed down its regular season with a home victory that rang up the Trojans' undefeated streak to 24 straight games. Behind a career-high four-goal outburst from freshman Kami Craig, the Trojans flexed their scoring muscle evenly and powerfully on the way to a 16-9 win over No. 13 UC Santa Barbara last week. It was Senior Day for the Women of Troy, and all five graduating Trojans made an impact in the game. Led by Moriah Van Norman's hat trick -- which she had secured by half time -- fellow seniors Anna Pardo, Bianca Simonetti and Lauren Wenger all also got to the back of the net, and senior goalie Alex Lopez also capped up in the cage in the five players' final game at Troy.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR: USC was the No. 2 seed behind then-undefeated UCLA in the 2005 MPSF Tournament. The Trojans opened the tournament with a 9-5 win over San Diego State before falling in the semifinals to third-seeded Stanford 9-5. The Women of Troy then went on to claim third place in the tourney with a 12-6 win over Hawai'i. UCLA won the MPSF championship and remained undefeated on the way to the 2005 NCAA title with a 33-0 record.
TAKEOVER AT THE TOP: Although UCLA took the lead as the MPSF's highest scoring team during USC's training week, the Women of Troy propelled themselves back on top and have remained the nation's top offensive power averaging 12.5 goals per game. USC's super-powered offense put UCLA's top-ranked defense to the test during the regular season, as the Trojans passed up the Bruins' 3.5 goals-against average with six scores against the tough UCLA defense to secure the Trojans as the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Tournament. USC ranks fifth in the nation defensively with 5.5 goals against per game.
DEEP IMPACT: The balance of the USC offensive onslaught has sunk a load of teams this season. The Women of Troy have averaged just under eight different scorers per game, topping out with 13 scorers in a 15-8 win over UC San Diego on April 1.
GOODNIGHT AND GOOD LUCK: USC has taken care of business during the second half of big games so far this season, having locked away three big wins now over Stanford and two over UCLA with stingy late-game 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, and utilized a third-quarter shutdown technique in the Gaucho Invitational with just two goals allowed during the third period throughout the tourney. In the fourth frame against UCLA, the Trojans pitched a shutout while tacking up a pair of goals of their own to lock away USC's first tournament championship and snap UCLA's 39-game winning streak. In the next title match, the Trojans silenced the Cardinal in the third on the way to a comeback win for USC's second tournament crown of the year. The next time the Trojans and the Cardinal tangled, USC did the same, stifling Stanford again in the third during MPSF play for USC's third win over the Cardinal this year. Most recently, USC allowed the Bruins just two second-half goals -- one each period -- on the way to USC's 22nd straight victory with a 6-4 win over UCLA.
HAYES CLEARS A PATH: Junior lefty Brittany Hayes is one of USC's most dangerous counterattack threats, and she's also rapidly climbing the USC scoring charts. She's the Trojans' top scorer again this season with 44 goals. She now has secured her place at No. 6 on the all-time career scoring list with 154 goals. After back-to-back hat tricks in wins over Stanford and San Jose State, Hayes was named MPSF Player of the Week.
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 Player of the Week. She is USC's fifth leading scorer this season with 27 goals so far.
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, and a week after that she had set a new high for herself with 12 saves in the Gaucho Invitational championship match against Stanford. Against San Diego State, she raised the bar even higher with a career-high 18 saves against the Aztecs. She ranks 26th in the nation in saves with 157, and was named MPSF Co-Player of the Week folllowing her 35-save performance at the Gaucho Invitational. Morgam recently repeated that feat after a dominating 11-save outing against UCLA in USC's 6-4 MPSf win over the Bruins. For her efforts, Morgan received her second MPSF Co-Player of the Week award.
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 79 career goals. Van Norman remains USC's go-to player at two meters and sits as the Trojans' top scorer this year and all-time fifth leading scorer with 203 career goals -- one goal away from tying for No. 4 all-time. Wenger was USC's second leading scorer as a junior and boasts 119 career goals to move into sole possession of the No. 9 slot on USC's all-time scoring list.
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, and sophomore Veronika Bartunkova is a member of the Czech Republic's 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 U.S. 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.
COMMERCE CONNECTIONS: Commerce Aquatics has been providing a solid water polo foundation to residents of the City of Commerce, and current Trojans Patty Cardenas, Alex Lopez and Denise Madrid all have reaped the benefits of Commerce's water polo support system. With Cardenas' transfer to USC this season, she joins her two club and high school teammates as Women of Troy hailing from Commerce and Bell Gardens High School.
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.
IN THE CARDS: 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 Van Norman punched in four goals against Michigan, and Cardenas matched that output with a four-goal performance against UCLA. The win marked 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.
GET A GAUCHO: The Trojans rolled through the Gaucho Invitational -- which included all 16 of the top-16 teams in the country. Stingy defense and a well-balanced offense were the themes once again for USC, as the Trojans outscored their opponents 47-18 in the tournament. USC opened with a 17-4 win over Brown behind a four-goal game from junior Erika Figge and 10 saves by goalie Whitney Morgan. Next was an 11-4 win over No. 9 San Diego State with a hat trick by freshman Kami Craig to earn USC a place in the semifinals. There, the Trojans faced No. 5 Hawai'i, and posted a 13-5 victory behind another Craig hat trick and eight different scorers for the Trojans. That squared up USC against No. 3 Stanford. The Cardinal caught the Women of Troy off-balance in the first period and took a 3-0 lead, but the Trojans powered back and allowed just two more Stanford goals on the way to a 6-5 win. Morgan tacked up 12 saves in the win, and senior Lauren Wenger led USC with two goals while also doing her fair share on the defensive end in the field. Craig finished the tourney as USC's leading scorer with eight goals, while Figge and Wenger added six each, and senior Moriah Van Norman scored five. Morgan capped up for all four games in the cage and tallied 35 saves in the tournament -- including that career-high 12-save performance against the Cardinal. For her efforts in goal, Morgan was named MPSF Co-Player of the Week -- her first honor and USC's second of the year.
