No. 2 Women’s Water Polo Opens Home Schedule in Busy Weekend of Action

Friday, January 23

Los Angeles, Calif.

5:45 p.m.

USC

UC Santa Barbara

Photo by: Nicole Hourigan

No. 2 Women’s Water Polo Opens Home Schedule in Busy Weekend of Action

January 21, 2026 | Women's Water Polo

The Trojans will host No. 18 UC Santa Barbara and Biola on Friday before heading to San Diego State on Saturday

The USC Women's water polo team will play in its home pool for the first time in the 2026 season on Friday night. The No. 2 Women of Troy will host the No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos and the Biola Eagles for a double header under the lights of the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

The Trojans will then head to San Diego State to take on the No. 21 Aztecs.

Schedule
Friday
#2 USC (2-0) vs. #18 UC Santa Barbara (0-2) – 5:45 p.m.
#2 USC (2-0) vs. Biola (0-4) – 7:00 p.m.

Saturday
#2 USC (2-0) at #21 San Diego State (3-1) – 1:00 p.m.

History
The Trojans and Eagles first met in 2023 and USC has come out on top in all four matchups. The most recent game between the two teams was just one season ago in 2025, with USC claiming a 21-6 victory.

USC moved to 28-14 all-time against UC Santa Barbara with its win last weekend.

The Trojans lead the all-time series 42-9 against the Aztecs with USC winning the last 42 games. USC last faced San Diego State for its 2024 season opener and put up 18 goals to take the game.

Last Time Out
The Women of Troy began its 2026 campaign with a two game sweep at The Joust hosted by California Baptist. USC defeated Azusa Pacific 17-8 before earning its first ranked victory of the year with a 17-5 win over No. 18 UC Santa Barbara.

Alma Yaacobi led the scoring for the Trojans with six goals in the two contests. The sophomore center recorded a career high four goals in the first game of the day before adding two more against the Gauchos.

Anna Reed started both games in the cage and racked up a new career high 13 saves against UC Santa Barbara. Reed added four steals to the stat sheet on the weekend.

Rankings
USC is ranked No. 2 in the national rankings to open the year. The Trojans remain in the second spot following a 2-0 opening weekend.

Trojan Personnel
The 2026 squad will be led by two captains– sophomore attacker Emily Ausmus and senior attacker Maggie Johnson. Ausmus had a stellar start to her collegiate career, racking up a program single season record 114 goals. The Riverside, Calif. native had a team high 31 multiple-goal outings and was named a Cutino Award finalist along with a member of the All-America First Team, MPSF Newcomer of the Year, All-MPSF First Team, MPSF All-Tournament Team and MPSF All-Newcomer Team.

Johnson is in her second season as a captain for the USC women's water polo team. The senior out of La Jolla, Calif. scored 23 goals and recorded four multiple-goal outings.

All-American Returners
The Trojans return three All-Americans to the roster for the new year in Ausmus, Rachel Gazzaniga and Ava Stryker.

Gazzaniga was named to the All-America Third Team following a sophomore season in which she scored 46 goals. Gazzaniga posted 13 multiple-goal outings and tacked on 21 assists, 36 drawn exclusions and 34 steals.

Stryker recorded 72 goals, good for third on the team, in the 2025 season. An All-American Honorable Mention, Stryker had multiple goals in 23 games and tallied 41 steals.

Last Season
In 2025, Casey Moon's squad worked to a 29-5 record on its way to its 21st consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The Trojans finished as national finalists at the tournament after defeating Harvard and UCLA to advance to the championship game against Stanford. USC improved to 5-1 in conference play to tie for first overall and went undefeated at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

Offensive Onslaught
USC scored a program record 576 goals from 17 different scorers just a season ago. Although the Trojans are losing Tilly Kearns who graduated as part of the Class of 2025, the squad returns four of their five leading scorers– Ausmus (114), Stryker (72), Meghan McAninch (47) and Gazzaniga (46).

They are joined by three other Trojans who each scored 20 or more goals in the 2025 campaign in Alma Yaacobi (43), Morgan Netherton (33) and Johnson (23).

New Kids On The Deck
Six newcomers will join a stacked squad for the 2026 campaign. Natalia Blazevic out of Vancouver, B.C. is the lone international freshman. Blazevic boasts international experience, competing as part of the Canadian Junior National Team at the 2024 PanAm Games.

The five other members of the incoming class all hail from California including three from Newport Beach. Ashley Kwan, Kara Carver, Kate Sloman, Payton Netherton and EJ Hourigan round out the group that looks to make an immediate impact for the Trojans.

International Experience
Ausmus, a 2024 Olympian, and McAninch competed with Team USA at the U20 World Championships in Salvador, Brazil over the summer. The pair returned to campus with gold medals as they helped the U.S. to its first U20 championship since 2015. Ausmus was named the MVP of the tournament after leading the team with 21 goals across six wins. McAninch was named Player of the Match in group play and scored six goals to help the United States win the title.

Sinia Plotz was Germany's top scorer at the 2025 FISU World University Games. Plotz served as team captain and helped lead the host country to victory. The senior utility player scored 13 goals across the event held in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, including a hat trick in the championship match.

Ausmus, Gazzaniga and Stryker all competed at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore for Team USA where the Americans reached the semifinal round.