USC
Arizona State
No. 1 USC Advances To Semis vs. UCLA
February 21, 2009 | Women's Water Polo
Feb. 21, 2009
IRVINE, CALIF. -- The No. 1USC women's water polo team pinned up its eighth and ninth straight wins of 2009 to earn a trip to tomorrow's semifinals against longtime rival UCLA at the UC Irvine Invitational. The Trojans kept its undefeated run through the season so far intact with a 16-3 win over UC Santa Barbara and then a 13-4 win over Arizona State on Saturday in Irvine. USC will face UCLA in a 10:30 a.m. semifinal against the Bruins for the right to move into the afternoon's 5:15 p.m title match.
Behind hat tricks from Michelle Stein in both games, the Women of Troy powered past both UC Santa Barbara and Arizona State to finish at the top of USC's bracket. The Trojans shut out the Gauchos for the first three quarters of play, building a 14-0 lead on UCSB to secure their first win of the day. Joelle Bekhazi also tallied a hat trick in the game, and two-goal outings came from the hands of three more Trojans -- Kally Lucas, Forel Davies and Kristen Dronberger before the 16-4 win was tacked upon the hands of nine different USC players.
In the next game against Arizona State, USC took a 4-0 lead and held an 8-3 advantage at halftime before shutting out the Sun Devils once again in the third to power ahead 12-3 for the fourth quarter. By game's end, USC had Stein with another three goals and Kami Craig and Lucas with two apiece to lead another nine-Trojan offensive outing.
UC IRVINE INVITATIONAL - Feb. 21, 2009
USC 16, UC Santa Barbara 3
UCSB 0 - 0 - 0 - 3 = 3
USC 3 - 6 - 5 - 2 = 16
SCORING:
USC - Joelle Bekhazi 3, Michelle Stein 3, Kally Lucas 2, Forel Davies 2, Kristen Dronberger 2, Alexandra Kiss, Kara-Leigh Huse, Stephanie Lavayen, Nadia Dan.
UCSB - Gillian Morgan 2, Kristin Kulakowski.
SAVES: Tumua Anae (USC) 11, Chelsea Carillo (UCSB) 6.
USC 13, Arizona State 4
ASU 0 - 3 - 0 - 1 = 4
USC 4 - 4 - 4 - 1 = 13
SCORING:
USC - Michelle Stein 3, Kami Craig 2, Kally Lucas 2, Joelle Bekhazi, Nadia Dan, Forel Davies, Alexandra Kiss, Rosanna Tomiuk, Sarah Van Norman.
ASU - McGrath 2, Phelps 2.
SAVES: Ilse van der Meijden (USC) 6, Dana Harvey (ASU) 9.
