No. 3 Seed USC Women’s Water Polo On Hunt For Eighth National Title

Friday, May 9

Indianapolis, Ind.

3:00 p.m. PT

USC

Harvard

USC bench cheers during a game at Uytengsu Aquatics Center

Photo by: Nicole Hourigan

No. 3 Seed USC Women’s Water Polo On Hunt For Eighth National Title

May 07, 2025 | Women's Water Polo

NCAA BRACKET LIVE SCORES USC NCAA NOTES (PDF)

Trojans are in Indianapolis for action at the 2025 National Collegiate Championship May 9-11.

2025 National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship
IU Natatorium (Indianapolis, Ind.)

Opening Round: Wednesday, May 7
McKendree vs. Wagner — 6 p.m. ET

Quarterfinals: Friday, May 9
Q1: [1] Stanford vs. McKendree/Wagner — 12 p.m.  ET
Q2: [4] Hawai'i vs. Cal — 2 p.m. ET
Q3: [2] UCLA vs. LMU — 4 p.m. ET
Q4: [3] USC vs. Harvard — 6 p.m. ET

Semifinals: Saturday, May 10
Q1 winner vs. Q2 winner — 12 p.m. ET
Q3 winner vs. Q4 winner — 2 p.m. ET

Championship: Sunday, May 11
Semifinal winners — 12 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

LIVE STATS |   FRIDAY/SATURDAY LIVE STREAMS |   CHAMPIONSHIP GAME LIVE STREAM

THIS WEEK
USC is locked in with its 21st consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, looking for the program's eighth national championship when the Trojans engage in action in Indianapolis this week. The No. 3 seed in this 2025 bracket, USC (27-4) opens up against Harvard (26-6) in the NCAA Quarterfinals at 6 p.m. ET on Friday (May 9). A win over the Crimson would push the Trojans through to a 2 p.m. ET semifinal against either UCLA or LMU on Saturday (May 10). The 2025 NCAA championship game is set for 12 p.m. ET on Sunday (May 11), with all the National Collegiate Women's Water Polo action taking place at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind.

2025 TROJANS
USC has been a top-three team in the nation all season and earned the No. 2 seed for the 2025 MPSF Tournament. Under the direction of head coach Casey Moon for the second full season, USC had four Trojans earn All-MPSF honors this year, including Olympians and First Team honorees Tilly Kearns and Emily Ausmus, who became the third Trojan all-time to be named MPSF Newcomer of the Year. Sophomore Rachel Gazzaniga picked up a spot on the All-MPSF Second Team, and freshman Alma Yaacobi earned All-MPSF Honorable Mention as well as a spot on the MPSF All-Newcomer Team alongside Ausmus. Kearns, Gazzaniga and Ava Stryker are the Trojans' returning All-Americans for a 2025 USC team averaging 17.3 goals per game in the program's most high-powered offensive seasons in history. This is the first time a USC team has scored more than 500 goals in a single season.

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 through 6-8 Sports.

RANKINGS
USC opened up 2025 ranked No. 3 in the national rankings. On Feb. 5, the Trojans rose up to rank No. 1 in the nation, and stood tied in that spot for the next two weeks before moving to No. 2 in the nation on Feb. 26. The Trojans took back that top spot in earning a tie at No. 1 before earning sole possession of the No. 1 on April 9. Entering NCAA action, USC is now ranked No. 3 in the latest set of national rankings (released May 7).

THIS TIME LAST YEAR
Last year, the Trojans entered NCAA competition in Berkeley, Calif., with a 18-8 record after a fourth-place finish in the 2024 MPSF Tournament. USC opened the 2024 NCAA Tournament against Stanford in the quarterfinals and fell 8-3 to the Cardinal. Ava Stryker was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Second Team.

NCAA NOTES
Winners of seven previous national championships, USC holds a 41-15 all-time record in NCAA tournaments. USC's first national 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 the Trojans' 21st consecutive NCAA appearance and 21st overall. The Trojans have a chance to register the university's 115th NCAA team championship and 138th team national championship with a run to a 2025 tourney title.

BRACKET BREAKDOWN
This year's National Collegiate field includes six automatic qualifiers from conference championships and three at-large teams. Earning automatic berths this year are Stanford (MPSF), Harvard (CWPA), Loyola Marymount (Golden Coast), Hawai'i (Big West), McKendree (WWPA) and Wagner (MAAC). This year's at-large teams are California, UCLA and USC — all out of the MPSF.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR
Last year, the Trojans were the No. 2 seeds with a 26-2 record after a second-place finish in the 2023 MPSF Tournament. After opening 2023 NCAA competition with a 12-9 win over Fresno State, USC beat Princeton 18-8 in the semifinals. That brought up the NCAA title match between USC and Stanford, which saw the Cardinal take the trophy with an 11-9 decision. At the end of the tournament, Paige Hauschild and Tilly Kearns were named to the NCAA All-Tournament First team, and Carolyne Stern and Bayley Weber were named to the All-Tournament Second Team. USC finished the season with a 28-3 overall record — the Trojans' 24th season with 20 or more wins in its 29 years of existence.

BY THE NUMBERS
Entering NCAA action, USC's balanced scoring charge is led by Emily Ausmus and Tilly Kearns with 109 and 92 goals, respectively. Next in line is Ava Stryker, with 66 to help lead a pack of six Trojans with 40 or more goals to date. In all, 17 Trojans have scored at least one goal in 2025, including six with their first goals as Trojans. Defensively, all four USC goalies have factored into USC's 27-4 record — all of whom have set career highs already this year. Junior Jada Ward has started 27 games for the Trojans, and she hauled in a career-high 13 saves in USC's win over Hawai'i earlier this season along with back-to-back 11-save outings at the BKI. Overall, the goalie group averages 7.4 saves per game to anchor a Trojan defense giving up 9.2 goals per game. USC has outscored opponents 536-285 so far, while holding teams scoreless in 12 different periods to date. Offensively, USC is averaging 17.3 goals per game.

CLIMB ON
Now with 109 and 92 goals, respectively, Emily Ausmus and Tilly Kearns are the first Trojan duo to break the 90-goal barrier in the same season. When they both crossed the 80-goal mark earlier this year, they became two of just six Trojans to have done so in a single season and the first USC pair to each score 80 or more in the same season since Sofia Konoukh (104) and Aniko Pelle (81) in 2001. Aumus' 109 goals is a new USC record for single-season goals, and Kearns' 92 ranks fourth most by a Trojan. Kearns' scoring count so far also has propelled the senior up the USC career ladder, currently ranking No. 4 all-time in scoring at USC with 254 goals — one away from tying Konoukh at No. 3 all-time. Also on the rise in the USC career ranks is sophomore Ava Stryker, who crossed the 100-goal mark recently and now hold 115 career goals in under two seasons of work as a Trojan. Junior goalie Jada Ward also has joined elite company, ranked No. 10 all-time in career saves at USC with 193 total stops to date.

FAST FRESHMAN
Emily Ausmus' scoring blitz this year not only has set a new record for goals scored in a single season, but her 100th goal — scored in the MPSF quarterfinal — made her the fastest Trojan to hit the century mark in program history. She hit the 100-goal mark faster than Sofia Konoukh, who had set the previous single-season scoring record with 104 goals scored back in 2001 during her first season at USC.

EMILY PULLS EVEN
USC freshman Emily Ausmus tied the conference record for most MPSF Newcomer of the Week selections in picking up her seventh award, even with fellow Olympians Paige Hauschild (USC, 2018) and Maddie Musselman (UCLA, 2017). Ausmus broke the 90-goal barrier — just the third Trojan in program history to do so in a single season — in scoring eight goals across USC's two MPSF wins in its last weekend of action at home.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
Almost half of USC's scoring was generated by just five Trojan freshmen and sophomores last year, led by 2024 All-Americans Rachel Gazzaniga and Ava Stryker with 49 goals apiece. That dynamic duo gained extra experience as teammates with Team USA in a gold-medal run at the recent Pan American Games alongside incoming freshman and 2024 Olympian Emily Ausmus. Along with Ausmus, who deferred her enrollment in 2023-24 to compete with Team USA in Paris, USC has a total of five newcomers in the pool for this 2025 campaign. Also boasting international experience are true freshman Alma Yaacobi (Israel) and junior transfer Sinia Plotz (Germany). Southern California products Ava Knepper and Sofia Umeda have also been impact players for the Trojans in their first season.

VETERAN VIPS
Two-time Olympian and 2024 silver medalist Tilly Kearns plunges back into action at USC, where she is one of a five-woman senior class playing their final season as Trojans. Laine Hourigan, Emma Lawson, Sally McCarthy and Isabel Zimmerman all bring veteran experience to the 2025 Trojan talent pool. Lawson and junior Maggie Johnson are USC's team captains this season, joined by Kearns, Zimmerman, junior Morgan Netherton and sophomore Gazzaniga on head coach Casey Moon's Leadership Council, which serves as a guiding force for the Trojans.

STAYING CENTERED
USC's center play is anchored by Tilly Kearns and Alma Yaacobi on the offensive end, and is balanced by the defensive savvy of Emily Ausmus and Rachel Gazzaniga as guards. Gazzaniga and Madison Haaland-Ford also add offensive options at the two-meter slot for the Trojans.

ATTACK MODE
USC's perimeter attack features a number of Trojan sharpshooters. Along with the more veteran talent of Morgan Netherton and Isabel Zimmerman, sophomores Rachel Gazzaniga, Ava Stryker and Meghan McAninch have proven their worth on the perimeter, with further reinforcements coming in from newcomers Sinia Plotz, Ausmus and Kearns. Additional depth from the bench comes from Hannah Carver and Jelena Sarac, who scored their first goals as Trojans last season, along with another redshirt sophomore in Caitlin Cohen.

CAGE FIGHTERS
On the defensive end of the pool, USC also boasts a connected unit of goalies. Laine Hourigan and Jada Ward both have logged time in the cage the last two seasons. They're joined by two other Trojan goalies in redshirt freshmen Anna Reed and Lauren Schneider as USC's goalkeeping corps for 2025.

LAST SEASON
In 2024, USC went 18-9 overall in a season that saw the Trojans make a 20th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament in Casey Moon's first season as full-time head coach for the Trojans. USC tied for second in MPSF regular-season play at 4-2 and finished fourth at the MPSF Tournament. At the NCAA tourney, the Trojans fell in the quarterfinals to Stanford. USC's 2024 team was led in scoring by freshmen Rachel Gazzaniga and Ava Stryker with 49 goals apiece. Both earned All-America honors along with seniors Alejandra Aznar and Julia Janov.

THE PLACE TO BE.
The University of Southern California is the undeniable, unequaled and unquestioned top destination for student-athletes. USC is both home to 136 national team championships and one of the top-ranked private research institutions in the world. Located in the heart of the thriving Los Angeles metropolitan area, it is situated in one of the most diverse and visible media markets in the world. USC's campus is driving distance from the beautiful beaches of Southern California, the majestic mountains range of the Sierra Nevada, the sprawling splendor of the Redwood and Sequoia national forests, and the mysterious Mojave Desert. •