No. 1 Women’s Water Polo Returns Home To Host No. 4 California

Saturday, March 28

Los Angeles, Calif.

12:00 p.m.

USC

California

Photo by: Nicole Hourigan

No. 1 Women’s Water Polo Returns Home To Host No. 4 California

March 25, 2026 | Women's Water Polo

LOS ANGELES - With a nine-game win streak and an 11–10 victory over the defending NCAA champions, the USC women's water polo team returns to the Uytengsu Aquatics Center to close out the season with two home games. The Women of Troy enter the weekend ranked No. 1 in the nation and holding a 4–0 MPSF record as they prepare to host No. 4 California.

Schedule
Saturday - No. 4 California - 12:00 p.m.

Last Time Out
USC rallied late to take down No. 1 Stanford Cardinal 11-10 in a statement road win, closing the game on a 4-2 run in the fourth quarter. Trailing for much of the contest, the Trojans stayed within reach behind timely scoring from Meghan McAninch and Alma Yaacobi before breaking through late. Morgan Netherton's late third-quarter strike cut the deficit to one, setting up the final frame.

In the fourth, Yaacobi and Maggie Johnson helped USC draw even before McAninch's fourth goal of the day gave the Trojans their first lead since the opening quarter. After Stanford answered, USC executed in the final possession, with Emily Ausmus finding space and delivering the game-winner on the assist from McAninch with 10 seconds remaining to secure the 11-10 victory.

History
USC holds a 48-18 advantage in the all-time series against the California Golden Bears since 1995. The teams most recently met on February 15, 2026, when the Trojans earned a 15-12 victory over the No. 4 Bears, placing third in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational.

Rankings
With the win over Stanford, the Trojans jumped to become the No. 1 ranked team by the CWPA. This is the first time the Women of Troy have been ranked in the top spot since April 19, 2025.

Automatic Ausmus
Emily Ausmus leads the Trojan scoring for the second consecutive season. The sophomore has 47 goals after playing in just 15 of USC's 18 contests thus far. Ausmus is firing at a .671 clip and has racked up 20 assists to give her 67 total points on the year. Just one season ago, the Riverside, Calif. Native became the fastest player in program history to reach 100 career goals and currently sits 16th with 161 total.

Don't Let McAninch Get Hot
Meghan McAninch is heating up at just the right time. The junior has the second most goals on the squad with 48 and leads the Women of Troy with 89 points. McAninch earned the first conference weekly honors of her career after being named the MPSF/Delfina Player of the Week. McAninch powered the Trojan offense in their wins over two top five opponents with 10 points across the two games. McAninch recorded a hat trick and two assists in the 14-13 victory over #5 Hawai'i and tacked on two sprint wins. She then brought that momentum into the pivotal conference matchup against #1 Stanford with a four goal performance and an assist to hand the Cardinal its first loss of the season by a score of 11-10.

Cage Command
Anna Reed has been the starting keeper for the Women of Troy throughout the season. The redshirt-sophomore has tallied four double digit save performances so far this season. Reed has also held opponents to single digit scoring in 12 outings.

All Out Attack
USC's scoring has been on fire in the 2026 campaign. Through the first six games, the Trojans tallied 20-plus goals in four contests. Emily Ausmus leads the way with 57 goals and 79 total points with Meghan McAninch and Ava Stryker each close behind with 48 and 36 goals respectively. 14 Women of Troy have surpassed the 10-goal mark this 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.