USC
Cal State Northridge
No. 1 USC Streaks On With Doubleheader Victories
April 03, 2010 | Women's Water Polo
April 3, 2010
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. - The No. 1 USC women's water polo team saw no real drop-off in play in back-to-back wins at McDonald's Swim Stadium, as the Women of Troy rolled through a victorious doubleheader day. USC punched in 18 goals in both wins, with Joelle Bekhazi racking up a career-high four goals in each victory for the Trojans. USC first topped No. 19 Cal State Bakersfield 18-4 before turning around and posting an 18-6 win over No. 10 Cal State Northridge behind a career-high five goals from Kristen Dronberger. The wins kept streaks alive for the Trojans, who pushed their record out to 17-1 overall with their 15th straight overall victory and 16th consecutive wins in USC's home pool.
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Also stretching out streaks of their own were Bekhazi, Tumua Anae and Forel Davies. Bekhazki continued her run of multiple-goal games by setting a new career high for herself with four goals in both wins, making it eight straight games with two or more goals for the junior. With 10 saves in each game today, goalie Anae has recorded double-digit save counts in nine consecutive games. And Davies has stretched her run of successful opening sprints out to 27 in a row with another perfect day off the lane line.
Against the Roadrunners, USC allowed just a single goal in each period while the Trojans stockpiled a season-high 18 goals on the hands of 10 different players. Kami Craig had a hat trick in the first period to take over as the Trojans' No. 9 all-time career scorer as USC took a 7-1 lead in the first frame. By halftime, Joelle Bekhazi had joined Craig with three goals, and she would go on to tally a fourth in the final period soon after Kara-Leigh Huse finished off a pass from Stephanie Lavayen to come through as USC's 10th scorer in the match.
Once again, Forel Davies was perfect on her opening sprints, and the senior also put in a goal with a crosscage slider that kicked USC ahead 14-2 to start the second half. Later in the frame, Kristen Dronberger made a turn at set and blasted in the goal to get in on the scoring for the Trojans and make it a 15-3 USC lead. By the final buzzer, Bekhazi and Craig were joined in their multiple-goal outings by two goals apiece from Alexandra Kiss, Kally Lucas and Dronberger. Netting single scores in the match along with Davies were Sarah Van Norman, Patricia Jancso, Nadia Dan and Kara-Leigh Huse.
After almost an hour break, the Trojans took to the pool once more for their clash with No. 10 Cal State Northridge. The Matadors held tight to the Trojans through the first period and into the start of the second, as CSUN closed to 5-4 with a 6-on-5 score at the 4:30 mark of the second frame. USC would shake it off and respond with an 8-0 run, however, streaking ahead 13-4 with its rally through to the third period of play. Dronberger's fourth goal of the game capped off the scoring surge, which was highlighted by a pair of Dronberger and Bekhazi goals to go along with scores from Lucas, Davies, Kiss and Dan. A CSUN 6-on-5 score stopped the surge with 35 seconds left in the third, although Dronberger would get to the back of the net 20 second later to make it a 14-5 USC lead.
In the final period of the day, USC pinned up four more goals around the Matadors' second 5-meter penalty goal of the game, with Jancso, Craig, Davies and Constance Hiller getting USC scores to wrap up an 18-6 USC victory on the hands of nine different scorers.
USC's next competition takes the Trojans to Arizona State for an MPSF matchup against the Sun Devils at noon MT on Saturday (April 10).
#1 USC 18, #19 Cal State Bakersfield 4
USC 7 - 6 - 2 - 3 = 18
CSUB 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 = 4
SCORING:
USC - Joelle Bekhazi 4, Kami Craig 3, Alexandra Kiss 2, Kristen Dronberger 2, Kally Lucas 2, Sarah Van Norman, Patricia Jancso, Nadia Dan, Forel Davies, Kara-Leigh Huse.
CSUB - Malia Pahoa 2, Becky Seelos, Alyson Moss.
SAVES: Tumua Anae (USC) 10, Megan Pezzolla (CSUB) 8.
#1 USC 18, #10 Cal State Northridge 6
USC 4 - 6 - 4 - 4 = 18
CSUN 2 - 2 - 1 - 1 = 6
SCORING:
USC - Kristen Dronberger 5, Joelle Bekhazi 4, Alexandra Kiss 2, Forel Davies 2, Kally Lucas, Nadia Dan, Patricia Jancso, Kami Craig, Constance Hiller.
CSUN - Whitney Delgado 2, Alison Pierce, Kristin McLaughlin, Chelsea Curran, Kathryn Outzen.
SAVES: Tumua Anae (USC) 10, Jillian Stapf (CSUN) 5.
