No. 3 Women’s Water Polo Heads To Convergence Tournament

Friday, March 6

Claremont, Calif.

2:00 p.m.

USC

Michigan

Photo by: USC Athletics 2026

No. 3 Women’s Water Polo Heads To Convergence Tournament

March 04, 2026 | Women's Water Polo

LOS ANGELES - The USC women's water polo team is set to compete in its final tournament of the regular season this upcoming weekend. The Trojans will take part in the annual Convergence Tournament hosted by Pomona-Pitzer. USC will face No. 11 Michigan to kick off the weekend on Friday afternoon before a Saturday doubleheader against LIU and Villanova.

Schedule
Friday - No. 11 Michigan - 2:00 p.m.
Saturday - LIU - 11:00 a.m.
Saturday - Villanova - 12:15 p.m.

Last Time Out
USC most recently secured a 16-6 win over No. 8 Indiana at Uytengsu Aquatic Center, controlling the game from the opening sprint. The Trojans jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind goals from Alma Yaacobi, Emily Ausmus, and Ava Strkyer, then extended the advantage with a seven-goal first quarter. USC had seven different scorers in the first half to build an 11-2 lead at the break.

Rachel Gazzaniga led the power-play attack with three goals, while Anna Reed anchored the defense with several key saves as USC secured its 13th win of the season and second of MPSF play.

History
USC holds a 9-0 advantage in the all-time series against Michigan. The teams most recently met last season at the Aztec Invite, when the Trojans earned an 18-7 victory over the then-ranked No. 16 Wolverines.

The Trojans lead Villanova 2-0 in the all-time series. USC last faced them during the 2024 season, claiming a 21-7 win at the Convergence Tournament.

The Saturday matchup between the Trojans and the Sharks will be the first in program history.

Rankings
The Trojans head into the Convergence Tournament ranked No. 3 by the CWPA only behind MPSF foes Stanford and UCLA.

Automatic Ausmus
Emily Ausmus leads the Trojan scoring for the second consecutive season. The sophomore has 38 goals after playing in just 12 of USC's 15 contests thus far. Ausmus is firing at a .644 clip and has racked up 16 assists to give her 54 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 tied for 17th along with teammate Ava Stryker and Kami Craig '10 with 152 total.

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 four double digit save performances so far this season. Reed has also held opponents to single digit scoring in 10 outings.

All Out Attack
USC's scoring has been on fire to start the 2026 campaign. Through the first six games, the Trojans tallied 20-plus goals in four contests. Emily Ausmus leads the way with 38 goals and 54 total points with Meghan McAninch and Ava Stryker each close behind with 31 apiece. 11 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.