University Southern California Trojans
Players Mentioned
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
2M
/ Women's Water Polo
G
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
Photo by: Katie Chin/USC Athletics
USC Women’s Water Polo Is NCAA-Bound For 19th Straight Season
May 01, 2023 | Women's Water Polo
At 26-2 overall, the Trojans are frontrunners for a 2023 national championship.
The USC women's water polo team will make its 19th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament after claiming the No. 2 seed into the 2023 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship. The Trojans take a 26-2 record into the tourney, hosted this year by Pacific at Chris Kjeldsen Pool at the Douglass M Eberhardt Aquatics Center in Stockton, Calif., from May 12-14. The USC women will be looking for their eighth national championship.
Led by three-time MPSF Coach of the Year Marko Pintaric, who is in his fourth season at the helm at USC, the Trojans built up a 14-game win streak during this 2023 season and posted a perfect 6-0 mark in the MPSF regular season. Along the way, USC took over as the top-ranked team in the nation with a decisive MPSF win over defending NCAA champion Stanford. The Cardinal answered back with a win in last weekend's MPSF Tournament final, leaving the Trojans even hungrier for this year's NCAA action.
USC also secured top honors from the conference in Bayley Weber's selection as MPSF Player of the Year, joined by captains and Olympians Paige Hauschild and Tilly Kearns on the All-MPSF First Team. With a senior-laden and savvy group on this 2023 roster, the Trojans are a force to reckon with. They average 16.4 goals per game while allowing only 7.3 goals-against per game to date. Weber and Kearns lead the scoring charge with 65 and 62 goals, respectively, while goalie Carolyne Stern has averaged 9.1 saves per game in the cage. Eleven current Trojans were on the 2021 roster when USC last won an NCAA Championship, and Hauschild was a freshman on USC's 2018 NCAA Championship squad.
Winners of seven previous national championships, USC holds a 39-13 all-time record in NCAA tournaments. Last year, the Trojans were the No. 2 seeds with an 18-3 record after a second-place finish in the 2022 MPSF Tournament. After opening with a 15-9 win over Fresno State, USC beat Cal 9-7 in the semifinals. That brought up the NCAA title match between USC and Stanford, which saw the Cardinal take the trophy with an 10-7 decision. Since 2010 every women's NCAA title has been won by either USC or Stanford.
USC's first title came 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. The 2018 campaign brought USC its sixth crown in a defensive 5-4 win over Stanford at the Trojans' Uytengsu Aquatics Center. In 2021, USC overpowered UCLA with an 18-9 final win that set an NCAA record for goals scored and margin of victory in a final and secured USC's seventh national championship.
This year's National Collegiate field includes six automatic qualifiers from conference championships and three at-large teams. Seven teams qualify directly to the championship field, and the remaining two teams will compete in an Opening Round games on May 10. Those winners will advance to quarterfinal games set for May 12, with semifinals held May 13 and the NCAA Championship game set for 7 p.m. on May 12. All games will be played at Pacific's Chris Kjeldsen Pool. Quarterfinals and semifinals will stream live on NCAA.com, and the NCAA Championship game will be televised on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN+.
Earning automatic berths this year are Stanford (MPSF), Princeton (CWPA), Fresno State (Golden Coast), UC Irvine (Big West), Biola (WWPA) and Long Island University (MAAC). This year's at-large teams are USC, California and UCLA — all out of the MPSF.
USC (26-2) will open the 2023 NCAA Tournament at 4 p.m. on May 12 against Fresno State (17-8). In the Opening Round game on May 10, Biola (17-14) will play Long Island (21-12) for the right to play top seed Stanford (21-1) at 12 p.m. on May 12. The other May 12 quarterfinal matchups are set: No. 4 seed UCLA (20-7) takes on UC Irvine (20-6) at 2 p.m., while No. 3 seed California (19-9) faces Princeton (27-3) at 6 p.m.. Winners advance to May 13 semifinal rounds, with the 2023 national championship bout set for 7 p.m. on May 14.
Led by three-time MPSF Coach of the Year Marko Pintaric, who is in his fourth season at the helm at USC, the Trojans built up a 14-game win streak during this 2023 season and posted a perfect 6-0 mark in the MPSF regular season. Along the way, USC took over as the top-ranked team in the nation with a decisive MPSF win over defending NCAA champion Stanford. The Cardinal answered back with a win in last weekend's MPSF Tournament final, leaving the Trojans even hungrier for this year's NCAA action.
USC also secured top honors from the conference in Bayley Weber's selection as MPSF Player of the Year, joined by captains and Olympians Paige Hauschild and Tilly Kearns on the All-MPSF First Team. With a senior-laden and savvy group on this 2023 roster, the Trojans are a force to reckon with. They average 16.4 goals per game while allowing only 7.3 goals-against per game to date. Weber and Kearns lead the scoring charge with 65 and 62 goals, respectively, while goalie Carolyne Stern has averaged 9.1 saves per game in the cage. Eleven current Trojans were on the 2021 roster when USC last won an NCAA Championship, and Hauschild was a freshman on USC's 2018 NCAA Championship squad.
Winners of seven previous national championships, USC holds a 39-13 all-time record in NCAA tournaments. Last year, the Trojans were the No. 2 seeds with an 18-3 record after a second-place finish in the 2022 MPSF Tournament. After opening with a 15-9 win over Fresno State, USC beat Cal 9-7 in the semifinals. That brought up the NCAA title match between USC and Stanford, which saw the Cardinal take the trophy with an 10-7 decision. Since 2010 every women's NCAA title has been won by either USC or Stanford.
USC's first title came 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. The 2018 campaign brought USC its sixth crown in a defensive 5-4 win over Stanford at the Trojans' Uytengsu Aquatics Center. In 2021, USC overpowered UCLA with an 18-9 final win that set an NCAA record for goals scored and margin of victory in a final and secured USC's seventh national championship.
This year's National Collegiate field includes six automatic qualifiers from conference championships and three at-large teams. Seven teams qualify directly to the championship field, and the remaining two teams will compete in an Opening Round games on May 10. Those winners will advance to quarterfinal games set for May 12, with semifinals held May 13 and the NCAA Championship game set for 7 p.m. on May 12. All games will be played at Pacific's Chris Kjeldsen Pool. Quarterfinals and semifinals will stream live on NCAA.com, and the NCAA Championship game will be televised on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN+.
Earning automatic berths this year are Stanford (MPSF), Princeton (CWPA), Fresno State (Golden Coast), UC Irvine (Big West), Biola (WWPA) and Long Island University (MAAC). This year's at-large teams are USC, California and UCLA — all out of the MPSF.
USC (26-2) will open the 2023 NCAA Tournament at 4 p.m. on May 12 against Fresno State (17-8). In the Opening Round game on May 10, Biola (17-14) will play Long Island (21-12) for the right to play top seed Stanford (21-1) at 12 p.m. on May 12. The other May 12 quarterfinal matchups are set: No. 4 seed UCLA (20-7) takes on UC Irvine (20-6) at 2 p.m., while No. 3 seed California (19-9) faces Princeton (27-3) at 6 p.m.. Winners advance to May 13 semifinal rounds, with the 2023 national championship bout set for 7 p.m. on May 14.
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