No. 2 Women’s Water Polo Moves To 5-0 With Win Over No. 21 San Diego State

Saturday, January 24

San Diego, CA

1:00 p.m.

USC

#21 San Diego State

Southern California

San Diego State

Photo by: Nicole Hourigan

No. 2 Women’s Water Polo Moves To 5-0 With Win Over No. 21 San Diego State

January 24, 2026 | Women's Water Polo

Box Score

SAN DIEGO, Calif.- The Women's water polo team shows no signs of slowing down after picking up its fifth straight victory to begin the season.

The Trojans put up its third consecutive 20-plus goal performance to take down the No. 21 ranked San Diego State Aztecs.

#2 USC 22, #21 San Diego State 8
Rachel Gazzaniga scored the first goal of the afternoon to initiate an early offensive attack for the Trojans. USC went on to add three answered goals to the stat sheet before the Aztecs could respond.

From there, Meghan McAninch reignited the group with a goal as Emily Ausmus got credited with the assist.

With a 7-1 lead after the first, USC continued to pour in goal after goal with another seven goal frame.

Johnson scored twice in the third for a four-goal day. Sofia Umeda and Natalia Blazavic each found the back of the cage in the fourth to give themselves each a hat trick for the second time this weekend.

Anna Reed and Lauren Schneider combined for 11 saves in the cage to hold the Aztecs to just eight goals in the game.

Notables

Maggie Johnson matched her career high with four goals
Anna Reed made seven saves in goal in 23 minutes of play
Natalia Blazevic and Sofia Umeda both recorded their second consecutive games with a hat trick
Johnson and Meghan McAninch led the point total with six each
The eight goals allowed marks the fourth time this season the Trojans have held opponents to single digit scoring
10 different players scored for USC with eight tallying multiple goals

Scoring: Maggie Johnson (4), Sofia Umeda (3), Natalia Blazevic (3), Ava Stryker (2), Meghan McAninch (2), Ashley Kwan (2), Ava Knepper (2), Rachel Gazzaniga (2), Morgan Netherton (1), Hannah Carver (1)

Saves: Anna Reed (7), Lauren Schneider (2)

Up Next
The Women of Troy will head back to San Diego, Calif. next weekend to compete at the Triton Invitational hosted by UCSD from Jan. 30-Feb. 1.