No. 3 USC Powers Up for 2007 NCAA Championships
May 08, 2007 | Women's Water Polo
May 8, 2007
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THIS WEEK: This week, the USC women's water polo team embarks on the final leg of its 2007 NCAA Championship quest. The third-ranked team throughout much of the year, the Women of Troy captured the No. 3 seed into this year's tournament. The Trojans' 2007 campaign marks their fourth straight trip to the NCAA Division I Women's Water Polo Championships. This year's action is set to be held at the USA Water Polo National Training Center in Los Alamitos, Calif. from May 11-13. The Women of Troy open the tournament with a first-round game against No. 6 seed Hartwick at 3:15 p.m. on Friday, May 11. Should USC face UCLA in the semifinals at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, live audio will be available online through http://usctrojans.cstv.com/sports/w-wpolo/sched/usc-w-wpolo-sched.html.
NCAA SEEDINGS: USC (20-5) is ranked No. 3 in the national poll once again this week, and takes the No. 3 seed into the NCAA Championships. Qualifying automatically for the 2007 NCAA Championships as conference champions were No. 2 seed UCLA (MPSF; 25-2), No. 5 seed Loyola Marymount (WWPA; 26-5), No. 6 Hartwick (CWPA; 29-9), No. 7 Pomona-Pitzer (SCIAC; 20-9) and No. 8 Wagner (MAAC; 17-13). Receiving at-large bids along with USC are MPSF powers Stanford (25-2) and San Diego State (27-8). Stanford is the top-seeded team, and San Diego State is seeded No. 4.
NCAA NOTES: USC has won two national championships in program history. The first came in 1999 before the NCAA sponsored women's water polo. In 2004, the Trojans posted the first-ever undefeated season on the way to capturing the 2004 NCAA title. USC has since finished third in 2005 and placed second in 2006 in a championship match against UCLA. The first NCAA women's water polo tournament was held in 2001. This year marks USC's fourth consecutive appearance in NCAAs, and fourth overall.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR: USC entered the 2006 NCAA Championships as the top seed after an undefeated regular season. Despite losing twice in the MPSF Championships, the Trojans entered NCAAs with the strongest record and highest seed. USC opened the 2006 tournament by leveling No. 8 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 27-2 behind four goals from Lauren Wenger and a hat trick apiece from Veronika Bartunkova and Brittany Hayes. That 27-goal effort tied as USC's highest scoring game in program history. From there, USC capped off the semifinals with a 9-7 win over Hawai'i, avenging the Rainbow Wahine's streak-snapping win from the semis of the MPSF tournament two weeks prior. Moriah Van Norman had a three-goal performance for USC in that NCAA semifinal victory, bringing up the final match of 2006. In the championship match against UCLA, the Trojans were upended by a long-range score in the final seconds of play by the Bruins that grabbed a 9-8 victory for UCLA. Patty Cardenas was USC's top scorer in that one with three goals, as the Trojans closed down 2006 with a 27-3 overall record.
NEXT IN LINE: Since water polo's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy was established in 1999, USC has been well represented at the Peter J. Cutino Awards banquet, and this year will be no exception. Trojan senior Erika Figge has been honored with her first nomination for the prestigious award bestowed upon the top collegiate water polo player each year. An extremely worthy candidate, Figge stands to join the elite list of past USC honorees: Bernice Orwig, Aniko Pelle, Moriah Van Norman and Lauren Wenger. This year, Figge is joined by Stanford's Katie Hanson and UCLA's Kelly Rulon as the female finalists for the 2007 Peter J. Cutino Award.
STARS (& STRIPES) AT TROY: The Trojans boast the most current national teamers on any collegiate roster this season. All told, four Women of Troy are doing double duty this season as USC stars also shining as members of the U.S. National Team. Seniors Patty Cardenas, Erika Figge and Brittany Hayes along with sophomore 2-meter powerhouse Kami Craig have been training and competing with Team USA for several summers now and are also aiming for ultimate spots on the United States Olympic Team for the 2008 Games in Beijing. The four current Trojans regularly join USC grads Moriah Van Norman and Lauren Wenger as members of the U.S. National Team, which also boasts 1996 USC grad and 2000 Olympian Bernice Orwig as an assistant coach. USC sophomore Michelle Stein also has been spending time capped up in red, white and blue as a member of the U.S. Junior National Team. The Senior National Teamers clashed March 3 in a scrimmage between USC and Team USA, marking a send-off for Cardenas, Craig and Hayes as they joined the U.S. squad at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia during March. There, Team USA won gold, and Wenger emerged as the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Figge -- USC's leading scorer this year -- was named an alternate and has remained with the Women of Troy throughout the season. She stands as USC's No. 8 all-time scorer with 133 goals -- 46 this so far on the year, averaging 1.84 goals per game. World champs Cardenas, Craig and Hayes rejoined Figge and the rest on April 2.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: Ranked No. 2 in the nation offensively. USC has blasted in 341 goals already this season -- more than double the number the Trojan defense has allowed -- to average 13.6 goals per game. The attack has come from all angles, too. Eighteen different players have tallied at least one goal this year, with a season-high 13 getting to the back of the net in USC's 24-2 win over Pacific on March 9. USC has had at least 10 score in seven separate games, and no one player averages over two goals per game.
EIGHTEEN GUN SALUTE: For the third straight season, USC has spread its scoring wealth among 18 different players. The program-best widespread attack first peaked in 2001, and since then 18 separate Trojans have gotten to the back of the net in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Out of this year's 18 scorers, 16 have tallied multiple-goal efforts. Seniors Erika Figge and Brittany Hayes lead them all with 14 multiple-goal games each, while Figge has scored in 22 of USC's 25 games.
FIGGE'S BIG DAY: In an outstanding performance against ASU on March 24, Erika Figge set a new career high for herself with six goals, while also moving up to rank No. 10 all-time in career scoring at USC as she pushed past former No. 10 player Sandra Milicev. The senior utility player earned her first career MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week honor for her efforts, which also included winning all four sprints, along with earning three USC 6-on-5 opportunities, three steals and one 5-on-6 field block. Figge has since moved up to now stand as the team's top scorer this season with 46 goals on the year and has passed 2006 Cutino Award winner Lauren Wenger to rank No. 8 all-time in scoring with 133 career goals.
STARTING STRONG: USC senior Brittany Hayes opened 2007 with a bang, claiming MPSF Mikasa Co-Player of the Week honors in the first week of action following her 10-goal performance at the Stanford Invitational and a hat trick to start the year in a win over LMU. She missed four games while in Australia with the U.S. National Team, but returned in full force and ranks ninth in the MPSF in scoring with 1.95 goals per game (41 total).
FIRST THING'S FIRST: Three Trojan newcomers wasted no time making an impact for USC in their freshman seasons at Troy. First-year backup goalie Tumua Anae saw time in the cage in USC's opener at LMU and jumped in for two more halves of play at the Stanford Invitational, tallying nine saves and seven goals against in her first three games in the cage for the Trojans. On the offensive end, freshmen Alexandra Kiss and Kally Lucas also got to the back of the net for USC in the season opener. Kiss drilled out a hat trick to start off her USC career, and Lucas added one goal. Kiss is now third on the team in scoring with 35 goals, and Lucas has scored 15 thanks in part to her first career hat trick in Hawai'i. Freshman Forel Davies (14 goals) knocked in her first multiple-goal game of her career with a pair of goals in USC's win in the third-place game vs. Cal on Feb. 24 at the UC Irvine Invitational, where redshirt freshman Mary Cousineau also tallied her first career goal at Troy vs. Long Beach State on Feb. 23. Those four freshmen have now scored a combined 67 goals.
SENIOR STRENGTH: The talent and leadership in this year's senior class quite possibly outweighs all others to come through the USC waters. Erika Figge and Brittany Hayes have been starting since their freshman years, and Marina Mayer and Jana Wenger were regulars in that 2004 rotation that won the NCAA Championship to start those four Trojans' careers off on a winning note. Denise Madrid also factored into USC's 2004 season as a freshman. Patty Cardenas may be a relative newcomer to the Trojan roster, but her experience, talent and value to the program has lifted the transfer from Golden West to an immediate mainstay in the starting lineup since joining the Women of Troy in 2006. Together, the six have accumulated 137 goals -- 40 percent of USC's overall scoring. That senior class will graduate with an undefeated record at home, and as the only group to reach the NCAA Championships every season.
TAKE ME HOME: The depths of McDonald's Swim Stadium have been good to the Women of Troy. USC has won 38 straight games at its home pool, dating back to a 7-6 MPSF Semifinal loss to UCLA on April 27, 2002, when USC last hosted the MPSF Tournament. The Trojans went 7-0 at home in 2003, 7-0 in 2004, 7-0 in 2005, 9-0 in 2006 and finished a perfect 7-0 this season to round out five consecutive undefeated seasons at home.
CAGE FIGHTERS: USC has a unique and reliable one-two punch at the goalie position this season. Both underclassmen, Whitney Morgan and Tumua Anae have shared time in the cage, combining for 196 saves. Redshirt sophomore Morgan has capped up in 20 games and pulled in 119 saves (6.0 spg), while true freshman Anae has appeared in 15 and accumulated 74 (4.9 spg). USC's third goalie is Angie Giancaterino, who has seen time in three games, with three saves.
CLASS WARS: Vying for that status level that the USC seniors hold are the USC juniors on the roster. It's another talented set of players who are helping to anchor the Trojans' powerful monopoly on returning experience. Miranda Nichols was named to the MPSF All-Freshman Team in 2005, and she returns as a junior regular in the starting lineup, generating 28 goals. Nichols may well be one of the most overlooked players in the game, but while the spotlight shines elsewhere, Nichols continues to put forth all-around power into every role she steps into. A staunch defender, Nichols also is adept at moving into two meters, and is as quick off the drive as she is with an outside shot. Boasting a sharp scoring arm, Veronika Bartunkova (22 goals) also continues to factor into USC's offensive onslaught along with transfer Carolyn Conway (10) in her second season at Troy and USC's driving force of depth, Alison Riddle (5) and Julie Spataru (2).
VAVIC ON DECK: Head coach Jovan Vavic 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 Men's Water Polo Championship and was named 2005 National Coach of the Year. For the first time in school history, Vavic saw two of his players earn collegiate water polo's highest honor, as Juraj Zatovic and Lauren Wenger made it a Trojan sweep of the Peter J. Cutino Award for the 2005 men's and 2006 women's seasons. Vavic brings a 277-98 (.739) all-time record on the women's side into the 2007 season -- his 13th as the women's head coach. Since 1999 when the program was fully funded, Vavic's record is 207-31 (.870) with an even more impressive 159-20 (.888) record in his last six seasons. He was named the National and MPSF Coach of the Year in 1999 after winning USC's first national championship and then again in 2004 after USC became the first team in NCAA Championship history to go undefeated (29-0) during the regular season. Vavic oversaw the team's move from Division II in 1995 to Division I in 1996.
2007 FINA World Championships
• USC's Cardinal and GOLD •
Playing for the U.S. Women's National Team at the FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, for three weeks this season, five USC athletes brought home gold after the United States beat Australia 6-5 in the gold-medal game on March 31. 2006 Peter Cutino Award winner Lauren Wenger scored three goals in the championship game -- following up a four-goal outing in a 10-9 overtime win in the semifinals against Hungary. For her efforts, Wenger was named the MVP of the women's tournament. She was joined in the pool throughout the World Championships by current Women of Troy Patty Cardenas, Kami Craig and Brittany Hayes as well as Wenger's fellow 2006 grad Moriah Van Norman. Van Norman delivered the first goal of the match for Team USA in the gold-medal game. She finished the World Championships with four goals. Wenger topped them all with 11 goals - seven of which came in the final two games for the United States. Cardenas also had four goals, Craig added two, and Hayes scored once. Former USC goalie Bernice Orwig also serves as an assistant coach for the U.S. team, and current USC player Erika Figge was named an alternate for the World Championships, having stayed at USC to help lead the Trojans to four more MPSF wins. Team USA's gold-medal finish is its second World Championship title in four years. The United States won FINA World Championship gold in 2003 and silver in 2005. Wenger, Van Norman and Figge were all members of that 2005 silver-medalist team as well.
