University Southern California Trojans
No. 1 USC Takes On Three Teams This Week
March 31, 2010 | Women's Water Polo
March 31, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK
Top-ranked USC remains in home waters this week for a three-game stretch as the Women of Troy (14-1) put their 12-game win streak up against nonconference visitors No. 20 Brown, No. 19 Cal State Bakersfield and No. 10 Cal State Northridge. The first action kicks off on Thursday (April 1) in a 5 p.m. matchup against Brown at McDonald's Swim Stadium. On Saturday (April 3), the Trojans set up for a double-header beginning with a 12 p.m. clash with Cal State Bakersfield with a quick turnaround to take on Cal State Northridge at 2 p.m.
IN THE RANKINGS
USC took over as the nation's No. 1 team on March 3 after standing at No. 2 in the rankings for five weeks, and the Trojans remain on top this week. Brown is ranked No. 20 this week; Cal State Bakersfield is No. 19; and Cal State Northridge ranks No. 10.
BY THE NUMBERS
USC enters the week with Joelle Bekhazi as its scoring leader with 26 goals to date. Patricia Jancso is next with 22, and Kally Lucas has 21. Forel Davies holds 19, with fellow senior Kami Craig at 18. Craig recently moved into the No. 10 all-time scoring slot in the Trojan history books, passing up fellow Cutino Award winning and Olympian Lauren Wenger. Craig now holds 134 career goals. As a team, USC is No. 1 among MPSF teams in defense, allowing just 4.73 goals per game. Offensively, USC is second in the conference with 11.93 goals per game.
LAST WEEK
USC got back to action last week with a pair of wins at McDonald's Swim Stadium to improve the Trojans' win streak to 12. USC hit a season-high scoring mark with its 18-4 win over Long Beach State, led by a career-high six goals from senior Forel Davies, who had five by halftime. Two days later in an MPSF match against San Diego State, the Trojan defense held its opponent to just four goals for the third straight game, posting a 9-4 win over the visiting Aztecs. Tumua Anae hit double-digit saves for the sixth consecutive game in that one, pulling in 12 stops after notching 13 against the 49ers.
GOING STREAKY
• USC defense hasn't allowed more than four goals in the past THREE games.
• Joelle Bekhazi has scored at least two goals in the past FIVE games.
• Goalie Tumua Anae has recorded at least 10 saves in SIX straight games.
• USC's overall win streak is 12 games.
• USC has won 14 straight games at McDonald's Swim Stadium.
• Forel Davies has won 16 consecutive opening sprints (March 6-present).
TAKING OVER THE TOP
USC recaptured the top slot in the national rankings after a powerful championship run at the UC Irvine Invitational. The Trojans entered the tournament as the second-seeded team, beating Long Beach State 12-1 to start to tourney and then San Jose State 15-5 to earn their place in the semifinals, with 13 different Trojans scoring on the first day of play in Irvine. In the semifinals, Kally Lucas scored four for the Trojans as they powered past Cal with a 10-5 win for a spot in the title match against top-seeded Stanford. There, USC avenged its only previous loss of the season and captured a key tournament championship along the way as the Women of Troy slammed No. 1 Stanford with a 10-6 win. The Trojans piled up an 8-2 lead by halftime, and Patricia Jancso finished with a hat trick en route to USC's big title win over the Cardinal. In handing the Cardinal their first loss of the year, USC extended its win streak to nine after taking a 10-7 loss to Stanford in the Stanford Invitational semifinals earlier in the month.
SCOUTING BROWN
The No. 20 Bears are 15-6 overall after beating Pomona-Pitzer 8-3 and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 12-4 earlier this week. Sarah Glick had seven goals in those two games, and goalie Stephanie Laing accumulated 27 saves. USC is 1-0 all-time against Brown with a 17-4 win during the 2006 Gaucho Invitational.
SCOUTING CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD
The No. 19 Roadrunners enter the week 13-16 overall after going 2-2 at last week's Roadrunner Invitational, in which CSUB beat UC Davis 10-9 and Chapman 18-5 and lost 14-13 to UC San Diego and 9-7 to Brown. Kaitlin Torres leads CSUB with 59 goals so far and goalie Megan Pezzolla is averaging 8.9 saves and 8.7 goals-against per game. USC is 3-0 all-time against the Roadrunners, last facing in 2006 for a 16-7 USC victory.
SCOUTING CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE
The No. 10 Matadors enter the week 20-5 overall after an 11-4 win over Long Beach State last week. Whitney Delgado leads CSUN in scoring with 53 goals, and goalie Jillian Stapf is averaging 10.0 saves and 6.2 goals-against per game. USC is 7-0 all-time against the Matadors, with the Trojans getting a 14-0 win last season.
SWEEPS WEEK
After a winning week of MPSF and tournament competition, USC placed two players at the top of the list for MPSF weekly honors. Senior Kami Craig earned her third career MPSF Player of the Week award, 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 USC's 10-6 upset of Stanford in the championship game at the UC Irvine Invitational. Craig opened the week with a four-goal game in USC's MPSF opener against Hawai'i, and she added four more goals during the UCI Invite. Jancso scored nine goals in five games during the week, scoring in all five games. She topped out with a hat trick in the title match against Stanford.
NOT A TYPO
It's been over a decade since the Trojans so decisively dominated their crosstown rival UCLA as they did at the Stanford Invitational. After streaking ahead of the Bruins 8-0 in the game, USC pinned up a 13-3 victory over UCLA in the third-place game at the tourney. The Trojans and Bruins played out one-goal games last season in three meetings, and UCLA had won 10 straight games until USC snapped the streak with an 8-7 win in their first clash last year. In 1999, USC beat UCLA 11-1.
WORLDLY ALL-AMERICANS
USC returns a fistful of All-Americans to the roster for 2009, and the group also hauls in added experience from international action during the offseason. 2008 U.S. Olympic silver-medalist and 2009 Cutino Award winner Kami Craig was joined by fellow Trojan All-Americans Tumua Anae, Forel Davies and Kristen Dronberger for U.S. National Team training. Anae, Davies and Dronberger all competed for Team USA at the Canada Cup in December, paying a visit to another USC All-American, Joelle Bekhazi, who is a member of the Canadian National Team. It was a Trojan All-American reunion again at the 2009 Holiday Cup as well, with Bekhazi again on the Canada roster and Craig and Davies capping up for the USA.
LAST SEASON
USC had a powerful 2009 season, racking up a 26-2 overall record that included a regular-season overtime loss to Stanford and a 5-4 loss to UCLA in the NCAA championship game. The Trojans made their third appearance in the national title match in four years and had beaten UCLA twice in one-goal games prior to the championship bout. The Women of Troy had beaten Stanford 5-4 in the MSP tournament title match to clinch the automatic seed to the NCAA Tournament with USC's first MPSF Championship since 2004 and second all-time. Kami Craig went on to win the Peter J. Cutino Award, and was one of six Trojans to be named an All-American.
