University Southern California Trojans
No. 4 USC Comes Home For Two Games
February 27, 2008 | Women's Water Polo
Feb. 27, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK: After 10 games on the road, USC finally returns home this week, looking to keep building on its win streak at McDonald's Swim Stadium. That streak sits at 40 straight home wins, as the Trojans (8-4) turn to host LMU and Cal State Northridge this week. USC will first play LMU in nonconference action with a 5 p.m. game on Friday (Feb. 29). An MPSF clash comes next for the Women of Troy, as they host Cal State Northridge in a 12 p.m. match on Saturday (March 1).
RANKINGS: USC has moved to rank No. 4 in the latest national poll. LMU ranks No. 9, and Cal State Northridge is No. 14 this week.
LAST WEEK: USC wound up in fourth place at the competitive UC Irvine Invitational last week, getting a 15-7 win over Michigan and a 12-1 win over UC Davis on the first day to move into the semifinals, where the Trojans were edged out in overtime by No. 2 Stanford. Against Cal in the third-place game, USC again lost in a one-goal decision, falling 9-8 to the Bears. The tournament boasted 16 of the nation's top-17 teams. Michelle Stein opened things with a five-goal game in USC's win over Michigan, and the junior finished with nine goals in the tournament and moved up to rank as USC's top scorer on the season with 24 goals. Kally Lucas tacked up hat tricks in USC's first two games, getting three against Michigan and three more in USC's defensive domination of UC Davis. Alexandra Kiss got to the back of the net in all four games for the Trojans, matching Lucas' tourney total of six goals. Tumua Anae manned the cage for all but two quarters of play, finishing with 37 saves overall. She had a big game in the semifinal, picking up six saves in the first period and finishing with a career-high 13. After working ahead 6-3 entering the first quarter against Stanford, however, the Trojan offense stalled out as the Cardinal worked ahead for the overtime win to move into the championship game. Left to play for third, USC faced Cal and worked ahead 5-3 before the Bears moved back to tie and then win by scoring the only goal of the fourth period for a 9-8 Cal victory. Veronika Bartunkova led USC with a hat trick against the Bears.
SCOUTING LMU: The No. 9 Lions are 4-6 on the season after finishing eighth at the UC Irvine Invitational, beating ASU (8-7) and falling to UCLA (11-6), Hawai'i (8-7) and San Jose State (8-7). Nicole Hughes was LMU's top scorer at the tournament with eight goals. USC is 15-0 all-time against the Lions after winning 18-9 in last year's season opener.
SCOUTING CSUN: The No. 14 Matadors are 4-7 overall and 0-1 in MPSF play after finishing 14th at the UC Irvine Invitational. CSUN lost to UCLA (12-4), ASU (12-4) and Michigan (5-4) and beat UC Santa Barbara (8-7). Dayna Van Gorder and Allison Brookes led the Matadors with five goals each at the tournament. USC is 5-0 all-time against CSUN after a 16-8 MPSF win last season.
STEIN STRIKES AGAIN: After another big weekend for USC, junior Michelle Smith took over as USC's leading scorer on the season with 24 goals. She had nine in four games at the UC Irvine Tournament, just a week after scoring seven goals in two games for the Trojans to help USC to a 2-0 start in MPSF play. Stein scored four of USC's final eight goals against UC Irvine and had a hat trick as USC avenged an earlier loss to ASU the next day. For her seven-goal outing across the two games, Stein earned her first career honors as the MPSF Mikasa Co-Player of the Week.
LET THE BALANCE BEGIN: In the previous three seasons, the Trojans have tallied18 different scorers each year. In game one of 2008, USC made a big early dent in that mark with 10 Women of Troy scoring in USC's opener against Hartwick on Feb. 2, hinting at another widespread scoring attack from the Trojans in the season to come. The next game proved the point, with another 10-player production to get two more Trojans on the scoring charts this season. Two new scorers emerged at the USC Irvine Invitational to get USC up to a total of 14 scorers on the year.
GETTING DEFENSIVE: The Trojans are just 0.07 out of the No. 1 slot in the conference's top defensive standings thanks to a strong start to 2008. Behind a potent tag-team in the cage of goalies Tumua Anae and Whitney Morgan, and arguably the top defensive field players in the game -- Forel Davies and Miranda Nichols -- USC is averaging 5.25 goals against per game. Anae also is No. 1 in the MPSF on her own with 3.80 goals allowed per game, and Morgan is just a step behind a 3.83.
SENIOR STRIKER: Twelve games into the year, senior Veronika Bartunkova is already more than halfway to her goal total from last season. She sits as USC's second scoring leader with 19 goals, having struck in all but two games so far this year, including three hat tricks.
FOREL'S FAST: Sophomore Forel Davies has plenty of speed to go along with her defensive prowess and offensive abilities. She won eight of her nine opening sprints at the UC Irvine Invitational, including five straight in USC's semifinal overtime clash with Stanford.
WHO'S BACK: Leading the Trojans into the 2008 season are a set of four experienced seniors ¬-- Veronika Bartunkova, Miranda Nichols, Alison Riddle and Julie Spataru -- as well as 2006 All-American goalie Whitney Morgan and 2007 MPSF All-Freshman picks Forel Davies and Alexandra Kiss. Also entering another year of action at Troy are juniors Jordan Anae and Michelle Stein and sophomores Tumua Anae and Kally Lucas.
WHO'S NEW: USC has added a stack of new talent to its 2008 roster, including a set of last year's redshirt players. The Trojans' redshirt freshman are Tekla Beckmann, Shauna Letvin and Rebecca McCall. And splashing down for their first seasons at Troy as true freshmen are Kristen Dronberger, Katie Indvik, Jessica Kutcher, Stephanie Lavayen, Courtney Ray, Lindsey Urquhart and Sarah Van Norman.
PUTTING THE "USC" IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: As the 2008 Olympic Games draw near, so does the promise of Olympic dreams for several Trojans. USC athletes comprise almost a third of the current U.S. women's national team roster, as Team USA preps for Beijing. USC junior Kami Craig is taking time off from the pool at Troy this year in order to work toward the games alongside five former Trojans: Patty Cardenas, Erika Figge, Brittany Hayes, Moriah Van Norman and Lauren Wenger. Team USA also boasts 1996 USC grad and 2000 Olympian Bernice Orwig as an assistant coach. Over the summer, USC sophomore Forel Davies joined Craig as a member of the U.S. Junior National Team at the 2007 Junior World Championships in Portugal. To keep up with the Women of Troy in their pursuit of Olympic gold, check back to usctrojans.com and also at usawaterpolo.org.
LAST SEASON: In 2007, USC finished third in the NCAA Tournament and in the MPSF Tournament, losing to eventual national champion UCLA by a single goal in the semifinals at both tournaments. The Trojans went 22-6 overall last season and were 10-2 in MPSF action. The Women of Troy also expanded their home win streak to 38 straight games with their fifth consecutive undefeated season at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
