No. 3 Women’s Water Polo Returns Home To Face No. 8 Indiana

Saturday, February 28

Los Angeles, Calif.

1:00 p.m.

USC

Indiana

Photo by: Nicole Hourigan

No. 3 Women’s Water Polo Returns Home To Face No. 8 Indiana

February 25, 2026 | Women's Water Polo

LOS ANGELES - The USC women's water polo team is set to return home for the first time in over a month to host the No. 8 Indiana Hoosiers. The Trojans bring in a record of 12-2 with a victory over San Jose State in the opening weekend of conference play into Saturday's top-10 matchup.

Schedule
Saturday - No. 8 Indiana - 1:00 p.m.
Live Stream: overnight | Live Stats: 6-8 sports

Last Time Out
USC most recently opened MPSF play with a 19-8 road win over No. 16 San Jose State. The Women of Troy built a 10-2 halftime lead. Emily Aumus led the scoring with four tallies for her 10th multiple goal game in 11 outings. Anna Reed anchored the defense with seven saves while Sofia Umeda recorded three field blocks to secure the Trojans' first conference victory of the season.

Ava Stryker racked up six points on three goals and three assists while Rachel Gazzaniga and Sinia Plotz each turned in four point games.

History
USC and Indiana first met in 1998, with the Trojans holding a 20-0 advantage in the all-time series. The most recent meeting came in 2025 at the MPSF Tournament opener, where USC earned a 20-5 victory. In the most recent regular-season game, USC defeated Indiana 21-12 at home in the first MPSF regular-season game of the year at Uytengsu Aquatic Center.

Rankings
The Trojans head into the second weekend of conference play ranked No. 3 by the CWPA only behind MPSF foes Stanford and UCLA.

Cage Command
Anna Reed has been the starting keeper for the Women of Troy in eight of the first nine games of the season. The redshirt-sophomore has tallied three double digit save performances so far this season. Reed has also held opponents to single digit scoring in nine outings.

All Out Attack
USC's scoring has been on fire to start the 2026 campaign. Through the first nine games, the Trojans have tallied 20-plus goals in four contests. Meghan McAninch leads the squad with 22 goals and 37 total points, while Emily Ausmus is close behind with 19. Eight Women of Troy have already surpassed the 10-goal mark on the young season.

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 third 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. Johnson led the MPSF in assists with 58 to cap off a strong 2025 season.

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
Alma Yaacobi, Sinia Plotz and Jelena Sarac competed at the 2026 European Aquatics Women's Water Polo Championship. Yaacobi competed with Israel who finished seventh. Sarac was a member of Team Serbia who finished 10th. Plotz was on Team Germany who placed 11th.

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.