University Southern California Trojans
Craig And Jancso Claim MPSF Honors
March 01, 2010 | Women's Water Polo
March 1, 2010
After a winning week of MPSF and tournament competition, the USC women's water polo team has placed two players at the top of the list for MPSF weekly honors. USC senior Kami Craig has been named MPSF Player of the Week, and freshman Patricia Jancso was selected the MPSF Newcomer of the Week - a new award bestowed on the top first-year player among MPSF teams each week. The pair combined for five goals in Sunday's 10-6 upset of Stanford in the championship game at the UC Irvine Invitational.
En route to her third career selection as an MPSF Player of the Week, senior Kami Craig had a big week for the Trojans, opening up with a four-goal outing in USC's MPSF opener against No. 6 Hawai'i. That four-goal game lifted Craig into the all-time top 10 scoring chart at USC, as she took over the No. 10 position previously held by fellow Cutino Award winner and Olympian Lauren Wenger. Craig would add four more goals for USC during the UC Irvine Invitational, including a pair of goals in the Trojans' win over Stanford in the championship game. In addition to earning a number of exclusions for USC throughout the tournament, Craig's two-goal game in the final helped USC avenge an earlier loss to Stanford, improving USC's win streak to nine games while snapping Stanford's undefeated start to the year. Craig has 142 career goals now and 16 this season.
Freshman Patricia Jancso now holds the second-most goals on the team this season (18) after scoring nine goals in five games this week. Jancso had one goal in USC's MPSF opener and then scored eight during USC's run to claiming the championship at the UC Irvine Invitational. She scored in every game for USC, but saved her hat trick for the title match against Stanford. Jancso led all scorers with three goals in USC's 10-6 win over No. 1 Stanford in the championship. That followed up a pair of goals in USC's semifinal win over No. 4 Cal to make it a five-goal day for the freshman. Jancso also had three goals on USC's first day of competition at the tournament.
USC improves to 11-1 overall and is 1-0 in MPSF play after this week's five wins. The Trojans' next competition puts USC up against Cal for their MPSF clash, as the Women of Troy host the Bears in a 1 p.m. game on Saturday (March 6) at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
