Saturday, February 1
Los Angeles, Calif.
12:45 PM
USC
vs
Loyola Marymount
Players Mentioned
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
2M
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
D
/ Women's Water Polo
2M
/ Women's Water Polo
D
/ Women's Water Polo
2M
/ Women's Water Polo
G
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
G
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
G
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
G
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
Photo by: Kym Mammolito
No. 1 USC Hits Westwood To Face No. 16 LMU And Scrimmage UCLA
January 29, 2020 | Women's Water Polo, Features
Trojans get a couple more early tests on Saturday as 2020 action continues.
THIS WEEK
USC heads over to Westwood this Saturday (Feb. 1) for one official game and one scrimmage at Spieker Aquatics Center. The No. 1 Trojans (2-0) will take on No. 16 LMU (3-1) in a 12:45 p.m. game before turning to a scrimmage against host No. 3 UCLA at 5:15 p.m. that evening.
USC IN THE RANKINGS
USC opened 2020 ranked No. 1 in the national preseason poll, and the Trojans have remained there in the latest polls (last released Jan. 29) to stand as the top-ranked team in the land.
SCOUTING LMU
The No. 16 Lions are 3-1 overall after a 14-9 win over Pomona-Pitzer and a 16-3 win over Chapman last weekend at the Lancer Oust. Marialena Seletopoulou is LMU's top returning scorer from last season, had led the team with 79 goals in 2019. In a series dating back to 1995, The Trojans are 29-0 all-time against LMU after a 16-5 USC win when the teams last met at the 2019 Triton Invitational.
LAST WEEK
USC peeled out to a 2-0 start to 2020 after a victorious day at the Lancer Joust in Riverside, Calif. The Trojans whipped up a 17-2 win over host Cal Baptist before unleashing a 25-2 win over Concordia to cap off the day's work. Along the way, Sabrina Garabet, Grace Tehaney and Bayley Weber hit new career highs, and three USC freshmen — Brooklyn Aguilera, Christina Crum and Téa Poljak — scored their first goals as Trojans. Also, two Trojan goalies capped up for their first official action, with redshirt freshman Erin Tharp and freshman Carolyn Stern sharing time in USC's win over Concordia.
It was redshirt junior goalie Holly Parker who manned the cage for USC's season-opening victory, collecting eight saves while allowing just two in that decisive victory. Meanwhile, sophomore Grace Tehaney plugged in a new career high with four goals to pace the Trojans on the offensive end. USC served up five goals in the second and fourth periods while holding the host Lancers scoreless in those frames to take full command of the season-opening win. In game two of the day, Erin Tharp took over the cage for the first half in anchoring her Trojans to a 12-2 halftime lead. At the break, Carolyne Stern checked in for her first minutes. While backing up her team, she'd see three of her fellow freshmen tally their first career goals. All the while, Stern collected eight saves, including a 5-meter penalty stop in the fourth. Junior Sabrina Garabet knocked in four goals in the second half to complete a career-high five-goal effort on the day, which was matched by sophomore Bayley Weber's career-high five. The scoresheet also shined with Freshmen Téa Poljak and Brooklyn Aguilera's hat tricks — all in the second half — and freshman Christina Crum's first goal as a Trojan to help round out a resounding 25-2 USC win. In all, 11 Trojans scored in the win, which featured a second-half shut by the USC defense.
TAKEOVER AT THE TOP
Already the top pick in the conference, USC opens the 2020 season ranked No. 1 in the nation. The Trojans left off 2019 at No. 2 after a loss in the NCAA Championship game, but USC is in prime position as it sets up to kick off this 2020 campaign under the direction of head coach Marko Pintaric. In the national preseason poll (released Jan. 15), the Trojans led defending champ Stanford and rival UCLA, which were tied at No. 2, and another MPSF foe in No. 4 California.
BY THE NUMBERS
Just two games into 2020, USC has outscored opponents 42-4. Bayley Weber leads the scoring front with eight goals, followed by Sabrina Garabet with six. Both Trojans tallied career-high five-goal games on the first day of action this season. Three USC goalies have capped up so far, with redshirt junior Holly Parker accumulating eight saves and just two goals allowed in her four periods of play. Redshirt freshman Erin Tharp and true freshman Carolyne Stern shared time in game two, with Tharp making four stops and Stern making eight. Thanks in part to strong goalie play, the Trojan defense has shut out opponents in four periods this season so far. Overall, USC is averaging 21.0 goals per game on the offensive end and is allowing just 2.0 goals-against per game defensively.
OLYMPIC DREAMERS
This 2020 season will be a unique one in that it is an Olympic year, so several teams across the nation will have players taking the season off in order to train and compete with their national teams in preparation for the Games. USC has four Women of Troy slated to sit out the collegiate season to pursue Olympic dreams, with All-Americans Alejandra Aznar (Spain), Paige Hauschild (USA) and Maud Megens (Netherlands) as well as Tilly Kearns (Australia) taking 2020 off. But the Trojan roster remains powerful for 2020, as evidenced by USC's No. 1 pick out of the seven teams in the MPSF conference and No. 1 in the nation.
BACK FOR MORE
Head coach Marko Pintaric will have at his disposal two returning All-Americans in Denise Mammolito and Kelsey McIntosh along with returning All-MPSF honoree Bayley Weber. USC has a talented blend of youth and experience, as sophomores Weber, Mireia Guiral and Grace Tehaney all were members of USC's 2019 NCAA roster that reached the title match. And along with Mammolito and McIntosh, USC has a set of four solid seniors with Kaylee Brownsberger and Elise Stein back for more along with redshirt junior goalie Holly Parker. They'll lead a batch of eight players slated for their first competition as Trojans.
LAST SEASON
Under the direction of interim head coach Casey Moon, the USC women closed out a dramatic 2019 season by winning the MPSF Tournament championship and pushing on to reach the NCAA final, where the Trojans were edged out 9-8 by host Stanford in another intense battle between USC and the Cardinal. USC finished the year 28-2 overall and had six Trojans earn All-American honors. Senior goalie Amanda Longan locked up her third set of All-America First Team honors, while sophomore Paige Hauschild and junior Maud Megens were on the First Team honor roll for the second straight season. Coming in with All-America Honorable Mention this year were junior Denise Mammolito — now a two-time honoree — along with first-time All-Americans Alejandra Aznar and Kelsey McIntosh. •
USC Water Polo's Emily Ausmus | Trojans Live 3.24.25
Monday, March 24
Women's Water Polo - Stanford 8, USC 3: Highlights (5/10/24)
Friday, May 10
Julia Janov - 2024 NCAA Women's Water Polo Banquet speech
Thursday, May 09
Women's Water Polo - Stanford 12, USC 11: Highlights (4/28/24)
Sunday, April 28
