Friday, May 12
Stockton, Calif.
4:00 PM
USC
vs
Fresno State
Players Mentioned
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DR
/ Women's Water Polo
2M
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
2M
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
G
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
2M
/ Women's Water Polo
2M
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
G
/ Women's Water Polo
G
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
UT
/ Women's Water Polo
DR
/ Women's Water Polo
Photo by: Photo: Yannick Peterhans
USC Women’s Water Polo Sets Sights On 19th Straight NCAA Tournament Trip
May 10, 2023 | Women's Water Polo
WEEKLY RELEASE (PDF)NCAA TOURNAMENT CENTRALFRIDAY & SATURDAY LIVE STREAMSCHAMPIONSHIP LIVE STREAM (ESPN+)LIVE STATS
Trojans are looking for the program’s eighth national championship in this 2023 trip to Stockton.
THIS WEEK
USC is making its 19th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament after claiming the No. 2 seed into the 2023 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship, 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 are looking for their eighth national championship. 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.
2023 TROJANS
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 the 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.
FOLLOW ALONG
NCAA quarterfinals and semifinals will stream live on NCAA.com, and the NCAA Championship game will be televised on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN+. Live stats will be available at https://www.thefosh.net/tournament/NCAA%20Championship?gender=W&year=2023.
RANKINGS
USC picked up the No. 2 ranking in the nation to open 2023, mirroring the Trojans' 2022 finish. After serving up a decisive upset win over Stanford, USC took over as the No. 1 team in the nation on April 12. In the latest round of national rankings (released May 3), USC ranks No. 2 in the land.
NCAA NOTES
Winners of seven previous national championships, USC holds a 39-13 all-time record in NCAA tournaments since the event began in 2001. 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 marks USC's 19th consecutive NCAA appearance and 19th overall. The Women of Troy have a chance to register the university's 113th NCAA team championship and 136th team national championship with a run to this 2023 tourney title. Since 2010, every women's NCAA title has been won by either USC or Stanford.
BRACKET BREAKDOWN
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. 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.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
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. At the end of the competition, USC's Tilly Kearns and Paige Hauschild were named to the NCAA All-Tournament First Team USC finished the year with a 20-4 overall record — the Trojans' 23th season with 20 or more wins in its 28 years of existence.
BY THE NUMBERS
On the way into NCAA action, USC's balanced scoring charge is led by Bayley Weber with 65 goals, followed by Tilly Kearns with 62, Grace Tehaney with 43, Paige Hauschild with 39 and Alejandra Aznar with 33. In all, 23 Trojans have scored at least one goal to date, including eight with their first goals as Trojans. Defensively, all four USC goalies have factored into the 26-2 record to date, led by senior Carolyne Stern. Stern is averaging 9.1 saves per game thanks in part to a career-high 16 saves made against Long Beach State on Jan. 28 — one of five double-digit saves outings by Stern so far this season. USC's other three goalies — Laine Hourigan, Sofia Stein and Jada Ward — are in their first season of action as Trojans. Overall, the group averages 9.6 saves per game to anchor a Trojan defense giving up just 7.3 goals per game. USC has outscored opponents 459-204 so far, while holding teams scoreless in 19 different periods to date, including a powerful second-half shutout of No. 6 UC Irvine on Feb. 18 and a first-half shutout of San José State on April 1.
ON THE RISE
Redshirt seniors Paige Hauschild and Bayley Weber have been steadily climbing USC's all-time scoring ladder this season. Weber recently took over the No. 9 spot and holds 208 career goals — one away from moving up to No. 8. Hauschild, meanwhile, sits at No. 11 all-time with 203 goals to date. Several more veteran Trojans are also on the rise. Grace Tehaney stands alone at No. 15 with 166 goals to her name. Meanwhile, Tilly Kearns, who joined the 100-goal club at USC earlier this season, now holds 155 as a Trojan to stand at No. 16. Mireia Guiral also moving on up with 121 career goals. On the defensive end, senior goalie Carolyne Stern has taken over at No. 8 all-time among USC goalies and now holds 374 career saves — three shy of the No. 7 spot.
HATS OFF TO THE CAPTAINS
USC's 2023 captains are a decorated pair. Both 2020 Olympians, Paige Haushild and Tilly Kearns are the experienced backbone of the Trojan roster once again. Kearns finished the 2022 season at the top of the scoring leaderboard with 64 goals — 10th most scored in a single season in program history — and as a Peter J. Cutino Award finalist. The Aussie Olympian earned spots on the 2022 NCAA All-Tournament First Team, the MPSF All-Tournament Team and All-MPSF First Team for her work at two-meters. Olympic gold medalist Hauschild collected 47 goals of her own last season while applying pressure on both sides of the pool. Hauschild was a freshman when USC won the NCAA Championship in 2018, although both she and Kearns were away training with their respective Olympic teams when the Trojans last won it all in 2021. Hauschild and Kearns are two of seven returning All-Americans on the 2023 USC roster, alongside Alejandra Aznar, Mireia Guiral, Carolyne Stern, Grace Tehaney and Bayley Weber.
MORE VETS
In all, USC returns 13 members of its 16-member roster from the 2022 NCAA Tournament. In addition to its seven All-Americans, experienced depth returns in the form of seniors Téa Poljak, Claire Haas, Brooklyn Aguilera and Christina Crum, along with junior Julia Janov and sophomores Honnie Vandeweghe-O'Shea and Isabel Zimmerman..
YOUNG GUNS
USC's newest additions come from an array of the best talent in the world, including U.S. pipeline members Morgan Netherton and Maggie Johnson. The Trojans also have added Fresno State transfer Fanni Muzsnay, who also has international experience as a member of the Hungarian National Team. Freshman Alex Bonaguidi is tabbed for duty at center, joined by redshirt sophomore Hannah Meyer, who sat out last season due to injury.
WATCH THIS!
USC's Paige Hauschild, Tilly Kearns and Bayley Weber have all earned spots on the Watch List for collegiate water polo's top honor — the Peter J. Cutino Award. The trio combined has scored 154 of USC's 436 goals scored to date, while also accounting for 61 out of 204 total Trojan steals on the defensive side. Olympic gold medalist Hauschild (35 goals) and U.S. National Team member Weber (64) are in their final season as Trojans, while Olympian Kearns (55) is in her third season at USC. All three feature prominently on USC's career scoring charts, with Weber and Hauschild at No. 9 and 11, respectively, and Kearns solidly in the top-20 with her 143 goals. USA Water Polo and The Olympic Club collaborates with the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches to name 20 players to the Watch List for the 2023 women's season. The Peter J. Cutino Award, named in honor of the late Hall of Fame coach, recognizes the best player in men's and women's college water polo. The Watch List is completely independent from the nomination and voting process for the Cutino Award, as that honor will acknowledge the full breadth of the 2023 season. Finalists will be announced following the completion go the women's season. USC already has three men on the Watch List for the 2022 men's award — Massimo Di Martire, Jake Ehrhardt and Ashworth Molthen.
LAST SEASON
In 2022, USC posted a 20-4 overall record while making an 18th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans went a perfect 6-0 in MPSF competition before taking second in the MPSF Tournament and reaching a fourth consecutive NCAA final. USC had beaten Fresno State 15-9 in the quarterfinals and then topped Cal 9-7 in the semis to face Stanford in the title match, falling 10-7 to the Cardinal. At the close of the season, Tilly Kearns was selected as a finalist for the Peter J. Cutino Award and was a First Team All-American along with Paige Hauschild. They were joined by fellow All-Americans Bayley Weber (Second Team), Carolyne Stern (Third Team), Mireia Guiral (Honorable Mention) and Grace Tehaney (Honorable Mention). Head coach Marko Pintaric was named MPSF Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. •
USC is making its 19th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament after claiming the No. 2 seed into the 2023 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship, 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 are looking for their eighth national championship. 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.
2023 TROJANS
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 the 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.
FOLLOW ALONG
NCAA quarterfinals and semifinals will stream live on NCAA.com, and the NCAA Championship game will be televised on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN+. Live stats will be available at https://www.thefosh.net/tournament/NCAA%20Championship?gender=W&year=2023.
RANKINGS
USC picked up the No. 2 ranking in the nation to open 2023, mirroring the Trojans' 2022 finish. After serving up a decisive upset win over Stanford, USC took over as the No. 1 team in the nation on April 12. In the latest round of national rankings (released May 3), USC ranks No. 2 in the land.
NCAA NOTES
Winners of seven previous national championships, USC holds a 39-13 all-time record in NCAA tournaments since the event began in 2001. 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 marks USC's 19th consecutive NCAA appearance and 19th overall. The Women of Troy have a chance to register the university's 113th NCAA team championship and 136th team national championship with a run to this 2023 tourney title. Since 2010, every women's NCAA title has been won by either USC or Stanford.
BRACKET BREAKDOWN
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. 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.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
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. At the end of the competition, USC's Tilly Kearns and Paige Hauschild were named to the NCAA All-Tournament First Team USC finished the year with a 20-4 overall record — the Trojans' 23th season with 20 or more wins in its 28 years of existence.
BY THE NUMBERS
On the way into NCAA action, USC's balanced scoring charge is led by Bayley Weber with 65 goals, followed by Tilly Kearns with 62, Grace Tehaney with 43, Paige Hauschild with 39 and Alejandra Aznar with 33. In all, 23 Trojans have scored at least one goal to date, including eight with their first goals as Trojans. Defensively, all four USC goalies have factored into the 26-2 record to date, led by senior Carolyne Stern. Stern is averaging 9.1 saves per game thanks in part to a career-high 16 saves made against Long Beach State on Jan. 28 — one of five double-digit saves outings by Stern so far this season. USC's other three goalies — Laine Hourigan, Sofia Stein and Jada Ward — are in their first season of action as Trojans. Overall, the group averages 9.6 saves per game to anchor a Trojan defense giving up just 7.3 goals per game. USC has outscored opponents 459-204 so far, while holding teams scoreless in 19 different periods to date, including a powerful second-half shutout of No. 6 UC Irvine on Feb. 18 and a first-half shutout of San José State on April 1.
ON THE RISE
Redshirt seniors Paige Hauschild and Bayley Weber have been steadily climbing USC's all-time scoring ladder this season. Weber recently took over the No. 9 spot and holds 208 career goals — one away from moving up to No. 8. Hauschild, meanwhile, sits at No. 11 all-time with 203 goals to date. Several more veteran Trojans are also on the rise. Grace Tehaney stands alone at No. 15 with 166 goals to her name. Meanwhile, Tilly Kearns, who joined the 100-goal club at USC earlier this season, now holds 155 as a Trojan to stand at No. 16. Mireia Guiral also moving on up with 121 career goals. On the defensive end, senior goalie Carolyne Stern has taken over at No. 8 all-time among USC goalies and now holds 374 career saves — three shy of the No. 7 spot.
HATS OFF TO THE CAPTAINS
USC's 2023 captains are a decorated pair. Both 2020 Olympians, Paige Haushild and Tilly Kearns are the experienced backbone of the Trojan roster once again. Kearns finished the 2022 season at the top of the scoring leaderboard with 64 goals — 10th most scored in a single season in program history — and as a Peter J. Cutino Award finalist. The Aussie Olympian earned spots on the 2022 NCAA All-Tournament First Team, the MPSF All-Tournament Team and All-MPSF First Team for her work at two-meters. Olympic gold medalist Hauschild collected 47 goals of her own last season while applying pressure on both sides of the pool. Hauschild was a freshman when USC won the NCAA Championship in 2018, although both she and Kearns were away training with their respective Olympic teams when the Trojans last won it all in 2021. Hauschild and Kearns are two of seven returning All-Americans on the 2023 USC roster, alongside Alejandra Aznar, Mireia Guiral, Carolyne Stern, Grace Tehaney and Bayley Weber.
MORE VETS
In all, USC returns 13 members of its 16-member roster from the 2022 NCAA Tournament. In addition to its seven All-Americans, experienced depth returns in the form of seniors Téa Poljak, Claire Haas, Brooklyn Aguilera and Christina Crum, along with junior Julia Janov and sophomores Honnie Vandeweghe-O'Shea and Isabel Zimmerman..
YOUNG GUNS
USC's newest additions come from an array of the best talent in the world, including U.S. pipeline members Morgan Netherton and Maggie Johnson. The Trojans also have added Fresno State transfer Fanni Muzsnay, who also has international experience as a member of the Hungarian National Team. Freshman Alex Bonaguidi is tabbed for duty at center, joined by redshirt sophomore Hannah Meyer, who sat out last season due to injury.
WATCH THIS!
USC's Paige Hauschild, Tilly Kearns and Bayley Weber have all earned spots on the Watch List for collegiate water polo's top honor — the Peter J. Cutino Award. The trio combined has scored 154 of USC's 436 goals scored to date, while also accounting for 61 out of 204 total Trojan steals on the defensive side. Olympic gold medalist Hauschild (35 goals) and U.S. National Team member Weber (64) are in their final season as Trojans, while Olympian Kearns (55) is in her third season at USC. All three feature prominently on USC's career scoring charts, with Weber and Hauschild at No. 9 and 11, respectively, and Kearns solidly in the top-20 with her 143 goals. USA Water Polo and The Olympic Club collaborates with the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches to name 20 players to the Watch List for the 2023 women's season. The Peter J. Cutino Award, named in honor of the late Hall of Fame coach, recognizes the best player in men's and women's college water polo. The Watch List is completely independent from the nomination and voting process for the Cutino Award, as that honor will acknowledge the full breadth of the 2023 season. Finalists will be announced following the completion go the women's season. USC already has three men on the Watch List for the 2022 men's award — Massimo Di Martire, Jake Ehrhardt and Ashworth Molthen.
LAST SEASON
In 2022, USC posted a 20-4 overall record while making an 18th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans went a perfect 6-0 in MPSF competition before taking second in the MPSF Tournament and reaching a fourth consecutive NCAA final. USC had beaten Fresno State 15-9 in the quarterfinals and then topped Cal 9-7 in the semis to face Stanford in the title match, falling 10-7 to the Cardinal. At the close of the season, Tilly Kearns was selected as a finalist for the Peter J. Cutino Award and was a First Team All-American along with Paige Hauschild. They were joined by fellow All-Americans Bayley Weber (Second Team), Carolyne Stern (Third Team), Mireia Guiral (Honorable Mention) and Grace Tehaney (Honorable Mention). Head coach Marko Pintaric was named MPSF Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. •
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