Friday, February 21
Irvine, Calif.
12:30 PM
USC
vs
Loyola Marymount
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Water Polo
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/ 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: John McGillen
No. 4 USC Aims For Back-To-Back Barbara Kalbus Invite Titles
February 19, 2020 | Women's Water Polo, Features
Trojans head to Irvine for tournament action Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
THIS WEEK
No. 4 USC enters a busy weekend of action at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine, where the Trojans will aim to defend their 2019 title at the event. USC (7-1) opens group play on Friday (Feb. 21) at 12:30 p.m. against No. 16 LMU. A win there would push the Trojans into a 12:30 p.m. game on Saturday (Feb. 22) against either No. 12 Long Beach State or No. 6 UC Irvine. Semifinals are set for later that Saturday afternoon, with the title match slotted for 1 p.m. on Sunday (Feb. 23) following an 11:30 a.m. third-place game.Â
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USC IN THE RANKINGS
USC opened 2020 ranked No. 1 in the national preseason poll, and the Trojans remained there until moving to No. 3 on Feb. 12. In the latest national poll (released Feb. 19), USC is now at No. 4.
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BKI NOTES
This year's edition of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational features 16 teams, including six MPSF teams in Arizona State, Cal, San José State, Stanford, USC and UCLA. The teams will open up action playing through four-team brackets on Friday Saturday morning, designated as follows:
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Bracket A: #1 Stanford, #8 UC San Diego, #9 UC Santa Barbara, #22 San Diego State
Bracket B: #2 UCLA, #7 Cal, #10 Michigan, #21 Pacific
Bracket C: #4 USC, #6 UC Irvine, #12 Long Beach State, #16 LMU
Bracket D: #3 Hawai'i, #5 Arizona State, #13 San José State, #15 UC Davis
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Saturday afternoon will feature semifinal games, with placement games taking place on Sunday. Last year USC stayed perfect on the year with its winning run to the 2019 Barbara Kalbus Invitational championship. The Trojans opened up with a 13-5 win over San Diego State before wrapping group play with a 7-1 win over Arizona State. In the semifinals, USC had a tighter contest in a meeting with Cal, but the Trojans pulled out the 9-8 win to move into the title match. Up against Stanford in a rematch of last year's NCAA final, USC was again up to the test, making a late rally in the fourth and holding off the Cardinal for a 10-8 victory that stretched USC's win streak to 32 in a row.Â
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LAST WEEK
USC stood tall in its home opener as a trio of seniors shouldered the bulk of the scoring load as the Trojans hauled in a 9-6 win over visiting No. 6 UC Irvine. USC gripped a four-goal lead entering the fourth before the Anteaters made a rally to cut it to a one-goal game, prompting seniors Denise Mammolito, Kelsey McIntosh and Elise Stein to blaze in big goals to get the Trojans back into control for the win. Mammolito and McIntosh would wrap their day's work with three goals apiece to go along with the two opening goals from Grace Tehaney, while redshirt junior Holly Parker hauled in nine saves for the Trojan cause in the home-opening win. USC would tally the first four goals of the game thanks to the fuse lit by Tehaney's back-to-back goal out of the gates. McIntosh would hit Mammolito for a searing 6-on-5 skipper to make it 3-0 Trojans by the end of the first. The Trojans would shut down three straight UC Irvine power play chances before Mireia Guiral's hard work at set earned the Trojans a 5-meter penalty shot. McIntosh made short work of that opportunity, and USC was up 4-0 on the Anteaters. UC Irvine would convert on a counterattack two minutes later to get on the board, and the 4-1 score held to halftime. McIntosh would unleash a cross cage rocket to net a 5-1 lead for USC in the third, but UC Irvine answered with a 6-on-5 finish with 42 seconds left in the frame. Guiral got it done once again with another 5-meter penalty earned, and Mammolito ripped in the score to lift USC ahead 6-2 entering the fourth. That's where things heated up. The Anteaters scored twice in the first stretch of the fourth to make t 6-4, but Mammolito pounced on a 6-on-5 chance next for a 7-4 USC advantage. Again, UC Irvine was able to piece together back-to-back strikes, scoring out of set and then on a 6-on-5, and all of a sudden it was a one-goal margin with 4:27 to go. The Trojans were up to the test, though. Sophomore Tehaney would set up her seniors for two big blasts — the first a ripper from McIntosh at 4:10, and the second a rocket from Stein with 2:21 left. That would seal it, and the Trojans held their ground to preserve a 9-6 victory over UC Irvine in home waters..
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MIREIA'S MPSF PICK
Sophomore Mireia Guiral doubled up on career firsts in this past week, hitting a career-high six goals in a 16-3 win over LMU and then earning her first career honor as the MPSF Player of the Week. Against the No. 16 Lions, Guiral was a perfect 6-for-6 in the game, with four goals coming in the second half as she built out her new career best with a six-goal final effort. She has scored in six games so far for the Trojans and holds 13 goals total.
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TAKEOVER AT THE TOP
Also the top preseason pick in the conference, USC opened 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.
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BY THE NUMBERS
Now eight games into 2020, USC has outscored opponents 120-40. Gracey Tehaney leads the scoring front with 19 goals, followed by Denise Mammolito and Bayley Weber with 15 each, Mireia Guiral with 13 and Kelsey McIntosh with 11. Tehaney is the only Trojan to have scored in every game this year. Meanwhile, three USC goalies have capped up so far, with redshirt junior Holly Parker making six appearances while averaging 8.35 saves and 5.9 goals-against per game. Redshirt freshman Erin Tharp has played five total periods, with 10 saves and five goals allowed, while true freshman Carolyne Stern has made 15 saves and given up just one goal in her four periods of work to date. Thanks in part to strong goalie play, the Trojan defense has shut out opponents in seven periods this season so far. Overall, USC is averaging 15.9 goals per game on the offensive end and is allowing just 4.86 goals-against per game defensively.Â
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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.
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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.
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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. •
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