USC Holds Off Hawai'i For Fifth

Sunday, May 1

San Jose, Calif.

11:30 PM

USC

Hawai'i (5th Place)

Flora Bolonyai tallied 12 saves for the Trojans today.

USC Holds Off Hawai'i For Fifth

May 01, 2011 | Women's Water Polo

May 1, 2011

SAN JOSE, CALIF. - The USC women's water polo team put up a stubborn stand in its first frame and locked in on a fifth-place finish at the MPSF Tournament with an 8-7 victory over No. 3 seed Hawai'I today at The Aquatics Center in San Jose, Calif. Backed up by a 12-save day from freshman goalie Flora Bolonyai, the No. 5 seeded Trojans built momentum through to the end to overcome a slim deficit at halftime. Now 18-6 overall, the Women of Troy await the selection announcements for the 2011 NCAA Tournament, with a likely spot as a No. 4 seed coming for the defending national champions.

In defiance of a trend of slow starts, the Trojans pinned up the first goal of the game and kept things tight in the first half of action. The trend that USC stuck to, however, was a second-half explosion on both ends, as USC outscored its opponents for the third straight game to comeback from a halftime hole and get ahead by two late in the game. Joelle Bekhazi ripped in a hat trick in the final frame for the Trojans in helping boost USC ahead of Hawai'i. USC generated a four-goal run that spanned the third and fourth periods to fight out of a 4-2 hole it fell into early in the second half.

Both goalies matched each other in the first-period save count with three apiece, but USC senior Sarah Van Norman broke through first with a sweep out of set on a setup from Nadia Dan with 1:46 on the clock. Hawai'i would equalize on a 6-on-5 chance 30 seconds later, and things were knotted up 1-1 for the second period. Bolonyai's dominated the cage to the tune of five second-period saves, although the Rainbow Wahine would manage a pair of goals around a 6-on-5 strike by USC's Patricia Jancso to put Hawai'i ahead 3-2 by halftime.

That hole deepened to 4-2 when Hawai'i slipped in a skipper on its first possession of the half, but the Trojans fought back with some strong defense and some power moves at two-meters. Kristen Dronberger earned a 5-meter penalty shot for the Trojans first, and Nadia Dan sliced in the score to make it 4-3. Dronberger then got USC up on a 6-on-5, and Kaleigh Gilchrist ripped in the tying goal with 1:30 to go. A field block from Joelle Bekhazi just before the buzzer preserved the lockup.

To kick off the fourth, Nicolina McCall earned an ejection for USC and Bekhazi delivered the go-ahead goal. Three minutes later, another 6-on-5 blast from Jancso carried USC to its largest lead of the game with 4:27 on the clock. Hawai'i would get set up with back-to-back 6-on-5 opportunities of their own next, however, and Carmen Eggens scored on both occasions to bring up another tie, locked 6-6 with 2:32 to go. But USC's Bekhazi was determined to wrap things up in regulation. The senior first stole back the lead as she looked off the goalie and drilled a strike that made it 7-6 USC. A minute later, she tucked one into the top corner to make it 8-6 Trojans with just over a minute to go, and although the Rainbow Wahine plugged in one more on their third straight 6-on-5 conversion, the Trojans held strong for the 8-7 win.

The 2011 NCAA selection show will take place on Monday (May 2) at 4 p.m. PT on ncaa.com.

MPSF ALL-TOURNAMENT SELECTIONSNO. Student-Athlete School Year Position1 Stephanie Peckham (MVP) California Junior Goalkeeper6 Priscilla Orozco UCLA Senior Attacker10 Adriana Vogt San Jose State Senior Utility20 Annika Dries Stanford Sophomore 2-Meter7 Joelle Bekhazi USC Senior Driver4 Emily Csikos California Junior Driver5 Monika Eggens Hawaii Junior Attacker

2011 MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS - San Jose, Calif.
Fifth Place Game - May 1
[5] USC 8, [3] Hawai'i 7
USC 1 - 1 - 2 - 4 = 8
UH 1 - 2 - 1 - 3 = 7

SCORING:
USC - Joelle Bekhazi 3, Patricia Jancso 2, Sarah Van Norman, Nadia Dan, Kaleigh Gilchrist.
UH - Leonie Van Der Molen 4, Monika Eggens 2, Carmen Eggens.

SAVES: Flora Bolonyai (USC) 12, Sara Gralitzer (UH) 6.