Trojans Are Top Seeds For 2019 NCAA Tournament

Just a day after USC women's water polo made it back-to-back MPSF Tournament championships for the first time in program history, the Trojans have set their course toward another program first. USC has picked up the No. 1 seed for the coming 2019 NCAA Championships, where the Trojans are aiming to repeat as national champions for the first time. The defending champs hold a six-game win streak and a 26-1 overall record on the way into their 16th consecutive NCAA appearance. USC has won six national championships and will be looking to score their seventh with a visit to Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center for the 2019 NCAA tourney running May 10-12.

With interim head coach Casey Moon at the helm, USC has surrendered just one loss, which the Trojans avenged last weekend in beating Stanford to claim the 2019 MPSF title. That was just days after USC emerged with a conference-best seven All-MPSF honorees — led by First Team picks Amanda Longan, Maud Megens and Paige Hauschild. At 26-1 overall, USC has its eighth straight and 21st overall 20-win season in the books. The Trojan scoring onslaught is paced by junior Maud Megens, who has scored 63 goals this season while running her career total to 155 to rank No. 11 all-time at USC in scoring. Sophomore Paige Hauschild, meanwhile, has tallied 45 so far and has risen to No. 26 all-time with 113 career goals. In goal, senior standout Amanda Longan continues to impress. She's hauled in a personal best 233 saves so far this season — seventh most by a Trojan goalie — and has bumped her career count to 813 to enter her final NCAA stretch needing 25 saves to pull even at No. 2 all-time with fellow Cutino Award winner Bernice Orwig. Longan anchors a stingy USC defense that is allowing just 4.3 goals-against per game. The USC offense, meanwhile, has clicked off 13.8 goals per game. Five Trojans have scored at least 30 goals so far, with freshmen Alejandra Aznar (36 goals) and Bayley Weber (32) in that zone along with junior Kelsey McIntosh (32).

USC has won six national championships in program history, with the first coming in 1999 before the NCAA sponsored women's water polo. In 2004, USC posted the first-ever undefeated season on the way to capturing the 2014 NCAA title. USC's third title came in 2010 — the last time the Trojans swept the MPSF coach, player and newcomer awards — in a championship won over Stanford. Three years later in 2013, the Trojans topped the Cardinal in tripe sudden-death overtime — the longest NCAA final in history — to claim a fourth national championship for USC. In another three years, USC was back on top once more, posting a second undefeated season en route to the 2016 NCAA Championship in another epic battle against Stanford. As host of the 2018 tourney, the Trojans emerged victorious in home waters to get USC's national championship count to six. Now with a chance to win back-to-back NCAA titles for the first time in program history, USC totes a 32-11 all-time record in NCAA tournament games since 2001.

This year's National Collegiate field includes seven automatic qualifiers from conference championships and three at-large teams. Six teams qualify directly to the championship field, and the remaining four teams will compete in Opening Round games. Those winners will advance to quarterfinal games set for May 10, with semifinals held May 11 and the NCAA Championship game set for 3 p.m. on May 12. All games will be played at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center in Palo Alto, Calif.

Earning automatic berths this year — along with MPSF champion USC — are Michigan (CWPA), Pacific (Golden Coast), Cal Lutheran (SCIAC), Hawai'i (Big West), Pacific (WWPA) and Wagner (MAAC). This year's at-large teams are California, Stanford and UCLA — all out of the MPSF.

USC (26-1) will open the 2019 NCAA Tournament at noon on May 10, playing the winner of the Opening Round game between UC San Diego (20-14) and Wagner (29-8). In the other Opening Round game on May 8, Pacific (21-10) will face Cal Lutheran (14-13) for the right to play No. 2 seed Stanford (18-3) in a 3:30 p.m. quarterfinal on May 10. The other May 10 quarterfinal matchups are set: No. 4 seed California (16-8) takes on Hawai'i (18-5) at 1:45 p.m., while No. 3 seed UCLA (23-6) faces Michigan (23-8) at 5:15 p.m.. Winners advance to May 11 semifinal rounds, with the 2019 national championship bout set for 3 p.m. on May 12.

Players Mentioned

Alejandra Aznar

Paige Hauschild

Amanda Longan

Kelsey McIntosh

Maud Megens

Bayley Weber