No. 3 Women’s Water Polo Downs No. 5 ASU In Top Five Battle

Saturday, March 14

Tempe, Ariz.

1:00 p.m.

USC

17-2

#5 Arizona State

23-4

USC (W)

ASU (W)

Photo by: Nicole Hourigan

No. 3 Women’s Water Polo Downs No. 5 ASU In Top Five Battle

March 14, 2026 | Women's Water Polo

Box Score

TEMPE, Ariz. - The USC women's water polo team kicked off spring break with a trip to the desert for a top-five clash against the Arizona State Sun Devils. In a high-scoring affair, the Trojans played spoiler on the Sun Devils' senior day and claimed a 21-17 victory for their 17th win of the season.

#3 USC 21, #5 ASU 17
In what is becoming routine, Alma Yaacobi opened the scoring for the Women of Troy after the two teams went back and forth on possessions. Sinia Plotz followed that up with a 6-on-5 goal to set the score at 2-0.

Arizona State scored three goals in the final three minutes of the frame but USC held a 4-3 lead after the first quarter.

The teams traded goals throughout the second with both squads scoring five apiece as the Trojans maintained their one goal lead going into the break.

The Women of Troy came into the second half firing. USC cashed in eight goals in the eight minutes of play. Emily Ausmus, Yaacobi, Rachel Gazzaniga, Meghan McAninch, Morgan Netherton and Plotz all found the back of the cage in the quarter.

USC tacked on four goals to ice the game in the fourth to ice the game as they took down Arizona State.

Notables

Four different Trojans recorded a hat trick
Sinia Plotz recorded three goals for a new USC career high
Maggie Johnson racked up a new personal best six assists
The 21 goal performance was the sixth time this season USC has recorded 20+ goals in a game
Meghan McAninch and Maggie Johnson led the way for the Trojan offense with seven points apiece
USC moved to 3-0 in MPSF with the win

Scoring: Emily Ausmus (4), Sinia Plotz (3), Alma Yaacobi (3), Meghan McAninch (3), Rachel Gazzaniga (3), Morgan Netherton (2), Maggie Johnson (1), Ava Knepper (1), Sofia Umeda (1)

Saves: Anna Reed (6)

Up Next
The Trojans will continue their spring break stretch with a trip to face No. 5 Hawai'i on Wednesday Mar. 18 with the game set for 9:00 p.m.