Ausmus Delivers Late Winner As No. 3 Trojans Top No. 1 Stanford

Sunday, March 22

Stanford, Calif.

1:00 p.m.

USC

19-2

Stanford

9-1

USC (W)

Stanford (W)

Women's Water Polo celebration after defeating No. 1 Stanford

Photo by: Nicole Hourigan

Ausmus Delivers Late Winner As No. 3 Trojans Top No. 1 Stanford

March 22, 2026 | Women's Water Polo

Box Score

With the win, USC hands Stanford its first loss of the 2026 season

STANFORD, Calif. – After trailing the Stanford Cardinal for more than two quarters, the No. 3 USC women's water polo team surged in the final frame. The Trojans outscored No. 1 Stanford 4–2 over the last eight minutes to secure an 11–10 win.
The game winner from Emily Ausmus in the final 10 seconds lifted the Women of Troy past the defending national champions.

#3 USC 11, #1 Stanford 10
The two squads traded possessions back and forth as they looked to break the ice first in the battle of the two remaining undefeated MPSF teams. Meghan McAninch did just that after almost two full minutes of play ticked off the clock. Stanford responded with a goal of their own before Alma Yaacobi cashed in from the center position on the assist from Sinia Plotz.

The Cardinal earned an exclusion and knotted things up once again on a powerplay goal.

The Trojans scored back to back to go up two halfway through the first period. Stanford then converted their penalty shot and tacked on another to set the score at 4-4 after the first.

In the second quarter, Stanford scored three to go on a 5-0 run. McAninch scored a penalty of her own to stop the surge before going into the halftime break down 7-5.

The third frame was a defensive affair with neither team being able to find the back of the cage through the first six minutes. Stanford struck first but once again McAninch and the Trojans answered.

USC earned two exclusions and the junior out of Orinda, Calif. fired one in off a Maggie Johnson assist.

With 14 seconds remaining in the third and USC on the powerplay, Morgan Netherton took a shot from a tough angle right past the Cardinal goalkeeper to cut the lead to one.

Stanford scored first in the fourth to bump its lead back to two but Yaacobi got it right back with her second goal of the contest.
Emily Ausmus earned an exclusion to swing momentum in the Trojans favor. Johnson then got the crucial goal to tie things up for the first time in the game since the beginning of the second quarter.

With under two minutes to play, McAninch fired in her fourth goal of the contest to give USC the lead before the Cardinal evened things up.
Coming out of the timeout with 35 seconds left in regulation, USC battled a strong Stanford defense. The Trojans almost lost possession but regained it. With key passes to set up the offense, Emily Ausmus got separation from her defender and launched the game winning shot into the back of the net from McAninch's pass to shut the door on Stanford with a final score of 11-10.

Notables

With the win, USC has ended Stanford's undefeated season for the second straight year.
Meghan McAninch led the scoring for the Trojans with four goals and five total points.
Maggie Johnson racked up four assists, marking her third game of the season with 4+ assists in a single game.
Alma Yaacobi went a perfect 2-for-2 with an assist for a three point performance.
The win marks the Trojans fourth win over a top-five opponent this season.
The Women of Troy are now the only unbeaten team in conference play with a 4-0 record against MPSF opponents.

Scoring: Meghan McAninch (4), Morgan Netherton (2), Alma Yaacobi (2), Maggie Johnson (1), Emily Ausmus (1), Ashley Kwan (1)

Saves: Anna Reed (4)

Up Next
The Women of Troy will return home to the Uytengsu Aquatics Center following a 3-0 spring break stretch and a nine game win streak to host No. 4 California. The MPSF matchup is set for Saturday, Mar. 28 at 12:00 p.m.