University Southern California Trojans
Stephania Haralabidis & Amanda Longan Sweep MPSF Weekly Awards Again
March 01, 2016 | Women's Water Polo
It's another clean sweep for USC women's water polo on the MPSF honor roll this week after the Trojans stayed perfect with another run to another tournament title last weekend. For the second time this season, junior Stephania Haralabidis has been named MPSF Player of the Week, while freshman goalie Amanda Longan has nabbed her third selection as MPSF Newcomer of the Week. The duo also swept the awards earlier this season after USC's victorious effort at the Triton Invitational. Altogether, the Trojans are undefeated on the year at 11-0 after last week's UCI Invitational crown.
Stephania Haralabidis was a driving force for the Trojans in their surge to winning the UCI Invitational championship. She'd tally a total of 12 goals over the weekend, including two game-winning goals. After USC opened the tourney with a 13-3 win over CSUN, Haralabidis set a new career high with a crucial seven goals in a close 11-10 win over host #9 UC Irvine on day one to get USC into the next day's semifinals. In the semis against #4 Stanford, Haralabidis scored the game-winner again, pushing the Trojans ahead 7-6 with just 5 seconds left in the game to move USC into the title match. There, Haralabidis registered a hat trick for the Trojans in a 10-7 win over #2 UCLA to claim the championship. With her high-scoring weekend, Haralabidis moved herself into the USC top-10 all-time scoring list, now ranked No. 9 with 153 career goals to her name.
Freshman goalie Amanda Longan recorded 20 saves in two full outings for the Trojans in their run to the UCI Invitational championship. Against #9 UC Irvine in game two, Longan tallied 10 saves to hold off the hosts in a tight battle to move into the next day's semifinals. Longan would take over the cage in the championship game against #2 UCLA, stopping a 5-meter penalty shot along the way to another 10-save effort in the final 10-7 win over the Bruins to claim the tournament title. Longan has now registered double-digit save outings in her past three appearances.
Haralabidis, Longan and the Women of Troy now turn to play their first MPSF match of the year with a trip to Tempe. USC will face Arizona State in a 1 p.m. MT matchup on Saturday (March 5).
