No. 1 Women’s Water Polo Hosts No. 3 UCLA For Senior Day

Saturday, April 4

Los Angeles Calif.

1:00 p.m.

USC

UCLA

No. 1 Women’s Water Polo Hosts No. 3 UCLA For Senior Day

April 01, 2026 | Women's Water Polo

LOS ANGELES – One game remains before the MPSF tournament for the No. 1 USC women's water polo team and it's a big one– the Trojans will match up against crosstown rival No. 3 UCLA for the regular season finale.

Schedule
Saturday - No. 3 UCLA - 1:00 p.m.

Last Time Out
No. 1 USC picked up a 14-10 win over No. 4 California at home to extend its win streak to 10 straight and a 5-0 conference record.

Emily Ausmus led the way with multiple goals, opening the scoring on a penalty and adding another down the stretch, while Rachel Gazzaniga caught fire in the second quarter with a pair of back-to-back goals. Ava Knepper and Alma Yaacobi also contributed early to keep USC in front in a back-and-forth first period that ended tied at 5-5.

USC created separation in the second quarter behind efficient power play execution and a late defensive stand to take a 9-7 lead into halftime. The Trojans extended that momentum in the third, with Yaacobi striking early and Meghan McAninch delivering back-to-back goals as USC built a four-goal advantage. Morgan Netherton also converted on a power play opportunity to keep the offense rolling.

Defensively, goalkeeper Anna Reed came up big in the final frame, highlighted by a key penalty save, as USC limited Cal's chances late and secured the 14-10 MPSF win.

History
The Trojans and Bruins most recently met in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational semifinal, where USC fell 10-9. UCLA has won the last two meetings, although the two teams have split the last 10 matchups at 5-5.

Rankings
With the win over Stanford, the Trojans jumped to become the No. 1 ranked team by the CWPA. The Women of Troy remain in the top spot heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

Trio Of Trojans
Three members of the USC women's water polo team were named to the Cutino Award Watch List as announced by the Olympic Club. Emily Ausmus was named to the list for the second straight season and was joined by first time honorees Ava Stryker and Rachel Gazzaniga. The watch list, which is named in honor of the late Hall of Fame coach, recognizes the best player in men's and women's college water polo. This watch list was created in 2022 in an effort to help promote the collegiate game, awareness of the award and the tremendous play of athletes across the country. Twenty athletes, as submitted by varsity college coaches around the country, are recognized for their outstanding play.

MPSF Weekly Awards
Four different USC players have garnered MPSF weekly honors throughout the season. Most recently EJ Hourigan secured her second Newcomer of the Week accolades following the win over No. 4 California. Ava Stryker, Emily Ausmus and Meghan McAninch have all been selected as the MPSF/Defina Player of the Week once each in the 2026 campaign. USC is tied for the most player of the week honorees with three and is the lone program to have three different players receive the recognition.

MPSF Top Ten
The Women of Troy continue to show up across the board in MPSF statistical rankings, with multiple Trojans placing in the conference's top five. Emily Ausmus leads the way with a strong all-around presence, ranking third in goals (60), fourth in points (82), and third in performance indicator (120.2)/ She also sits second in steals (34) and field blocks (13) along with third in sprint wins (18). Maggie Johnson holds the top spot in assists with 43, highlighting her role as a key distributor for the Trojan offense. Meghan McAninch also ranks among the conference leaders, sitting third in assists (41) and points (91), fifth in performance indicator (92.15), and fourth in sprint wins (18). Rachel Gazzaniga adds to USC's impact with a fifth-place mark in earned exclusions (33). In the cage, Anna Reed ranks fourth in saves (150) and fifth in steals (29), while Lauren Schneider is fourth in save percentage at .59, rounding out a strong showing for USC on both ends of the pool.

Senior Day
Six members of the Class of 2026 will be recognized ahead of Saturday's game– Sinia Plotz, Morgan Netherton, Maggie Johnson, Caitlin Cohen, Jelena Sarac and Hannah Carver.

Automatic Ausmus
Emily Ausmus leads the Trojan scoring for the second consecutive season. The sophomore has 60 goals and is firing at a .638 clip. Ausmus has racked up 23 assists to give her 83 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 50 and leads the Women of Troy with 91 points. McAninch earned the first conference weekly honors of her career after being named the MPSF/Delfina Player of the Week following the win against Stanford. 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 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 60 goals and 83 total points with Meghan McAninch close behind with 50 goals. 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 down a key scorer in Tilly Kearns who graduated as part of the Class of 2025, the squad returned 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.