USC Seeded Third For 2008 MPSF Championships
April 23, 2008 | Women's Water Polo
April 23, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK: USC's postseason push begins this week, with the Women of Troy capturing the No. 3 seed and a first-round bye in the 2008 MPSF Tournament, which runs April 24-27 in San Diego, Calif. The Trojans (17-6) will open the tourney against the winner of Thursday's Arizona State/Cal State Northridge game in a 2:30 p.m. match on Friday (April 25). Hosted this year by San Diego State, the MPSF Tournament offers up an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament and is also important in determining seeding for NCAAs. A win on Friday would push the Women of Troy into a semifinal game at 4:10 p.m. on Saturday (April 26). The MPSF championship game is set for 4:10 p.m. on Sunday (April 27), preceded by the third-place game at a 2:50 p.m.
IN THE RANKINGS: USC remains ranked No. 3 in the latest national poll.
MPSF SEEDINGS: The top three seeds in the tournament receive a first-round bye at the MPSF Tournament. UCLA (27-0) is the tournament's top seed, followed by No. 2 Stanford (23-3) and No. 3 USC (17-6). The remainder of the field is seeded as follows: No. 4 San Diego State (26-5), No. 5 Hawai'i (18-8), No. 6 Arizona State (20-10), No. 7 California (16-9), No. 8 UC Irvine (15-10), No. 9 San Jose State (14-13), No. 10 Long Beach State (15-15), No. 11 Cal State Northridge (12-17), No. 12 UC Santa Barbara (5-18) and No. 13 Pacific (4-25). Complete MPSF schedule is on page 6 of this release.
LAST WEEK: USC wrapped up the regular season with an exhibition game against the U.S. National Team and then a final MPSF clash against Long Beach State. In the exhibition game, USC welcomed home six of its own, as National Teamers Patty Cardenas, Kami Craig, Erika Figge, Brittany Hayes, Moriah Van Norman and Lauren Wenger all hail from USC. The current Trojans held tight to Team USA, but the U.S. squad pulled ahead in the second half for a 10-8 win. Former Trojan Erika Figge led the USA with three goals, while USC was led by a hat trick from Veronika Bartunkova. Two days later in USC's regular-season finale, the Trojans beat No. 12 Long Beach State 10-6 behind three-goal games from Bartunkova and Michelle Stein to close out the MPSF regular season with a 10-2 conference record.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR: USC was the No. 3 seed in last year's MPSF Tournament as well, bringing an 18-4 overall record into the 2007 postseason. After a first-round bye, the Trojans faced San Jose State in the next round, beating the Spartans solidly 14-4 behind a four-goal game from Miranda Nichols. USC faced second-seeded UCLA in the semifinals, and the Bruins managed to edge out the Trojans 10-9 despite 10 saves from goalie Whitney Morgan and a hat trick from Michelle Stein. In the third-place game, USC took down Hawai'i 14-7 behind eight different Trojan scorers, helping to secure USC's trip to the NCAA Tournament. UCLA won last year's MPSF title in a 9-3 win over top-seeded Stanford in the 2007 championship game.
STEIN STRIKES AGAIN: Having scored in all but one of USC's games this season, junior Michelle Stein stands as USC's leading scorer on the season with 49 goals after her 14th multiple goal game of the year saw Stein punch in three against Long Beach State last week. 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. Recently, Stein had another seven-goal outing across two games, as USC beat Cal and Pacific on the road. After both those seven-goal weekends, Stein earned her first career honors as the MPSF Mikasa Co-Player of the Week, giving her two selections this season.
BALANCING ACTS: In the previous three seasons, the Trojans have tallied 18 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. USC has since hit the 10-scorer mark three more times -- against Pacific on March 9, vs. UC Santa Barbara on March 28 and against San Jose State on April 6. To date, 15 different Trojans have scored this year. USC is third in the MPSF in scoring, averaging 11.17 goals per game.
GETTING DEFENSIVE: The Trojans are just a breath out of the No. 1 slot in the conference's top defensive standings thanks to a strong stand in 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 5.70 goals against per game. Morgan and Anae also hover at top the MPSF in fewest goals allowed with 2.77 and 4.50 goals against per game, respectively.
TUMUA TAKES CONTROL: Sophomore goalie Tumua Anae claimed her first career award from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation on March 3, named the MPSF Mikasa Co-Player of the Week after another strong weekend in the cage. Anae put up big defensive numbers again in the cage for the Trojans, tallying 21 saves in just over six periods of play as USC ballooned its home win streak to 42 straight victories. She has hit her career best of 13 saves in four different games this year, and ranks fourth in the conference with 8.85 saves per game.
SENIOR STRIKER: After 23 games, senior Veronika Bartunkova has surpassed her previous best season goal total of 27 from last season. After a career-high five goals against UC Santa Barbara on March 28, Bartunkova punched in four the following day at San Diego State for a nine-goal weekend than earned the senior her first career honor as MPSF Player of the Week. She sits as USC's second leading scorer with 39 goals, having struck in 18 games so far this year, including 11 multiple-goal outings.
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. She's remained the Trojans' top gun on sprints, and has also tallied 16 goals so far this season.
SECOND-YEAR SURGE: USC's sophomores have stepped up in their second seasons of action. Alexandra Kiss and Kally Lucas have scored 26 and 23 goals, respectively, putting Kiss on pace to hit last year's mark of 36 goals while Lucas has already bettered her freshman year total of 15. Fellow sophomores Forel Davies and Tumua Anae are key members of the Trojan defense, as Davies anchors a tough two-meter defense slot and Anae has been huge in the cage as USC's starting goalie.
CAPTAINS LOG: Senior captains Miranda Nichols and Julie Spataru set a high standard for the Trojans. Spataru has doubled her career scoring tally from the start of the season, having bettered her count of 13 goals in her first three seasons with 11 goals this season alone. Nichols stands out as one of the premier defensive players in the game, and also comes with solid offense for USC. She has struck in 10 games -- nine of them multiple-goal outings -- to hold 25 goals this season, upping her career total to 84 in her four seasons at Troy.
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.
HOME POOL ADVANTAGE: After five straight undefeated seasons at McDonald's Swim Stadium, USC's home winning streak stretched out to 42 straight wins before UCLA edged out the Trojans 8-7 on March 14 of this season. UCLA had been the last team to beat USC at home before the streak began, when the Bruins claimed a 7-6 MPSF Semifinal win over the Trojans on April 27, 2002, when USC last hosted the MPSF Tournament. The Trojans went 7-0 at home in 2003, 7-0 in 2004, 8-0 in 2005, 9-0 in 2006 and 7-0 in 2007. USC finished 7-2 at home this season.
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 freshmen 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.
LAST SEASON: In 2007, USC finished third in the NCAA and MPSF tournaments, 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.
Players Mentioned
