Top-seeded USC In Gear For 2006 NCAA Championships
May 09, 2006 | Women's Water Polo
May 9, 2006
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THIS WEEK: The Women of Troy set up for a run at the 2006 NCAA Championship, in hot pursuit of a third national championship for USC. Although USC's 25-game winning streak was snapped during the MPSF Tournament, the Trojans still hold the strongest record in the nation and locked down the top seed into the NCAA Tournament. That puts USC up against No. 8 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the quarterfinals of the eight-team tourney, held May 12-14 at UC Davis. USC's quarterfinal match against Claremont is set for 6 p.m. on Friday (May 12). The winner of that match faces either No. 4 seed Hawai'i or No. 5 seed UC Davis in the semifinals at 6 p.m. on Saturday (May 13). The NCAA Championship game is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Sunday (May 14), following the 3 p.m. third-place game.
LISTEN IN: USC's first two NCAA games can be followed with live audio at www.usctrojans.com, with color commentary by Mike Sondheimer and play-by-play by Dave Marcus. If the championship game is a USC-UCLA matchup, it, too, will be available as an audio link through www.usctrojans.com.
WATCH IT: The NCAA championship game is also scheduled to be televised live on CSTV at 5 p.m.
RANK AND FILE: Despite holding the best record in the nation, USC (25-2) slipped to No. 2 in the national rankings after being the top-ranked team for 11 straight weeks. The Women of Troy still retain their top seed into the NCAA Championships, putting them up against eighth-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to open the tournament. Stanford received the No. 2 seed as the automatic bid from the MPSF Tournament, followed by No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Hawai'i with at-large selections. The other conference champions picked up the remaining seeds: No. 5 UC Davis, No. 6 Hartwick and No. 7 Marist.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR: USC went into the 2005 NCAA Championships as the No. 2 seed after finishing third in the MPSF Tournament. With a 23-4 overall record entering NCAA action, the Women of Troy tacked up an 18-2 win over Redlands in the quarterfinals to face Stanford in the semis. There, the Trojans fell 5-4 to the Cardinal to miss out on a place in the title match against eventual champion UCLA. In the third-place game, USC faced Hawai'i and posted an 11-6 victory to claim third and close out 2005 with a 25-5 overall record. UCLA wound up retaining its undefeated record in 2005 by topping Stanford in the NCAA title game to win the national championship.
MPSF RECAP: USC ran its undefeated streak up to 25 straight games with its 11-4 quarterfinal win over San Diego State, but was then tagged with its first two losses of 2006 during the MPSF Tournament. Hawai'i caught the Trojans in a slump during the semifinals and managed to secure an at-large bid into the NCAA Championships with its 10-9 win over USC that pushed the Rainbow Wahine into the title game against Stanford. USC had a slow start against Hawai'i, and fell behind by three goals in the third quarter when the Trojans gave up four goals to the Rainbow Wahine. USC worked its way closer in the fourth, but could never capture a lead in the game as it ran out of time and fell short of the MPSF title game. Reeling from that first loss of the year, the Trojans came up against UCLA for the third time this season. In a game that could very well have been the MPSF Championship matchup, USC and UCLA were left playing for third place. As the top two teams in the country, both squads had their place in the NCAA Championships secured regardless of the outcome, but the Bruins had the upper hand in the third-place game. USC took an early lead for the first time in the tournament, but the Trojans' scoring strength flattened out while UCLA pushed ahead and stayed there. USC allowed another four goals against in the third period to fall well out of reach of the Bruins and could do no better than match UCLA's scoring in the fourth to end up in a 10-7 loss and take fourth in the tournament. Senior Moriah Van Norman and junior Patty Cardenas were the Trojans' top scorers in the tournament with six goals apiece. Van Norman had a hat trick to open action against San Diego State, and Cardenas tallied three against UCLA. Junior Brittany Hayes scored four goals in the tournament, and seniors Lauren Wenger and Anna Pardo each finished with three. Van Norman and Wenger were both named to the MPSF All-Tournament Team at the close of competition.
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 12.2 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 sixth in the nation defensively with 5.8 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 several big games this season, having locked away three big wins 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.
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.
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 82 career goals. Van Norman remains USC's go-to player at two meters and has moved up to stand as USC's all-time fourth leading scorer with 209 career goals -- four goals away from tying for No. 3 all-time. Wenger was USC's second leading scorer as a junior and boasts 122 career goals to jump into a tie for No. 8 on USC's all-time scoring list. Moriah Van Norman was the 2004 Peter J. Cutino Award winner -- water polo's Heisman Trophy -- for which Lauren Wenger and junior Brittany Hayes have been named finalists for 2006.
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.
HAYES CLEARS A PATH: Junior lefty Brittany Hayes is one of USC's most dangerous scoring threats, and she's also rapidly climbing the USC scoring charts. She's the Trojans' top scorer again this season with 48 goals. She now has secured her place at No. 6 on the all-time career scoring list with 158 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 fourth leading scorer this season with 33 goals so far.
MORGAN ON HER MARK: Redshirt freshman goalie Whitney Morgan saw the first action of her Trojan career at the Stanford Invitational 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 28th in the nation in saves with 178, and was named MPSF Co-Player of the Week folllowing her 35-save performance at the Gaucho Invitational. Morgan won again after a dominating 11-save outing against UCLA in USC's 6-4 MPSF win over the Bruins that earned Morgan her second MPSF Co-Player of the Week award.
